Boys Don't Cry
by seeingredfics
Summary: With less than a year left at Shermer High School, Molly Foster was finally making things right for herself. She was in a band that was taking her town's generation by storm, constantly writing new songs, and getting good grades for someone that the teachers used to call a 'waste of talent'. So she wasn't going to let some stupid Saturday detention ruin her mood.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One - Barry Manilow

Shermer High School had always been a bit of a drag. Whether it was due to the stinking locker rooms, the lack of teacher's attention to their students, the excessive amount of decorations for prom, the less than adequate computer labs, the lack of musical instruments or the graffiti on nearly every bathroom in the building. It was just a big shitty building that was filled to the brim with even shittier students and equally shitty teachers. Yet, it was the only high school the Shermer, Illinois council bothered to build. Because of that, nearly every single teenager in town had had a few too many experiences at that school, good, bad and ugly. Especially those who were given Saturday detentions, because coming into school on the one day of the week where they consider themselves to be free is a teens worst nightmare. So, on Saturday March 24th 1984, when 6 students were forced to come and sit in the school library together for a full 9 hours, they all pretty much wanted to be anywhere else in the world but Shermer.

At precisely 6:48 am, a large, silver BMW parked just outside the school's main steps. Inside, the girl stared up at the entrance, her mouth slightly ajar in distaste, as her father sat in the driver's seat, patiently waiting for his daughter's response to seeing the school on a weekend. When he first received the news that his youngest had been given a detention, Mr Standish wasn't sure what to do first. Feel annoyed that his daughter acted out, or rub it in his wife's face that she clearly hadn't raised their kid well enough to respect the rules. He chose the latter, and Claire was once again thrown in the middle of another long and tedious argument between her parents. Claire shook her head as the seconds ticked by, her watch now reading 6:50 am.

"I can't believe you can't get me out of this." She said, her father sighing beside her, as if it was his fault she was here. "I mean, it's so absurd that I have to be here on a _Saturday_." Claire looked at her hands, almost showing a hint of shame. "It's not like I'm a defective or anything." She mumbled. Her father chuckled beside her and rested his arm on the back of her seat.

"I'll make it up to you." He promised, reaching into the backseat to pull out Claire's brown, leather Ralph Lauren purse. "Honey, ditching class to go shopping doesn't make you a defective." He smiled, handing over her purse and a bag filled with her lunch that their maid had prepared that morning. Claire put her lunch in her purse and sighed sadly, already feeling sorry for herself. Her dad then placed his hand on her shoulder. "Have a good day." She stared at him as if he had three heads, but rolled her eyes and got out of the car, slamming it shut and trudging up the stairs with a scowl across her pale, freckled face. Her father watched her go through the window and smiled, thinking his little pep talk helped her, before pulling out of the parking lot, passing a red car on his way out.

"Is this the first time, or the last time we do this?" Mrs Johnson said with a raised eyebrow to her eldest, and only, son. Brian couldn't even be brave enough to look at her straight away, knowing he was going to feel guilty the moment his blue eyes met hers. He clutched his packed lunch to his chest nervously, glancing at the door handle and wishing he could just make a break for it right now.

"The last." He muttered. His mother nodded.

"Well get in there, and use the time to your advantage." She ordered. Brian looked her way and gulped at the serious expression on her face. His little sister looked up at him with a small smirk and he tried to not let it bug him.

"Mom, we're not supposed to study." He said simply. "We just have to sit there and do nothing." Mrs Johnson looked, and sounded, far from impressed by that.

"Well mister," Her tone sharper than before, "you figure out a way to study." His little sister took this opportunity to smile up at him wickedly.

"Yeah." She said and Brian just looked at her, unamused, before his mother began to get impatient.

"Well go!" She snapped. Brian licked his lips and clambered out of the car, carefully shutting the door, resisting the urge to slam it shut with full force. In the truck behind the Johnson's, Andrew Clarke couldn't have looked more pissed off at the situation he had gotten himself into. As his father talked to him, his military like voice drilling into his brain, he wondered whether or not anything he did was worth it. Up to this moment he had been content with being a sport fanatic, but for just a few moments, he considered quitting. Maybe he wouldn't be such a complete bonehead if he thought about something other than wrestling for once in his god damn-

"Hey, I screwed around." Andrew was brought back to reality by his father turning to look at him properly. Andrew didn't react. "Guys screw around, there's nothing wrong with that." He just nodded quickly, knowing that agreeing with his dad would get him out of the car and into detention quicker. His dad shrugged. "Except, you got caught, sport." It was somewhat sympathetic, but Andrew shook his head.

"Yeah, Mom already reamed me, alright?" He said with a grunt, trying to forget the yelling he had received last thursday from his mother the moment he stepped out of the Principle's office. He couldn't get the image of the kids around him giggling at his flushed face as she screamed at him for screwing up and embarrassing her and his father, again. Andrew's dad frowned at his son's sudden attitude and sat up straighter in his seat, tilting his chin up to assert some sort of dominance over his son. That was something even Andrew could admit he was good at.

"You wanna miss a match?" His father said more harshly, making Andrew cast his eyes down to his hands that were fiddling with a loose strand of fabric from his cream white jumper. "You wanna blow your ride?" Andrew hesitated but shook his head. "No school's gonna give a scholarship to a discipline case." Andrew turned his head and bit the inside of his cheek as he tried not to glare too hard at his dad. He was fuming on the inside. He was fed up of being in the truck with him and had to get out, now. And so he did, shoving the door closed with more force than necessary. Once he was out of sight, and the truck had pulled off, John Bender made himself known. He had been waiting for the other kids to go inside first, knowing that he wanted to save the best till last. Himself. He had been stood by the football field, smoking a cigarette, and staring at all their cars in the deserted parking lot for a few minutes, wondering what it would be like to be driven by his parents to one of his many detentions, before eventually stubbing it out on a tree and sniffing, shoving his cold hands into his coat pockets and striding over to the entrance. As he made his way over, he did his best to ignore the slight limp in his left leg and the ache in his back from the night before. He grimaced at the memory, not wanting to think about anything to do with the Bender residence for at least the next few hours, and crossed the road, completely ignoring the car that was speeding towards him. He didn't even flinch as it came to a screeching halt in front of him, and continued on walking without a care in the world.

The girl who stepped out of the backseat of the car quietly shut the door and hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to go straight in or say goodbye to her mother first. She bit her lip and shook her hair out of her eyes before shuffling over to the door, only to watch in dismay as the car pulled away with such speed that she stumbled. Allison Reynolds was left alone, as usual. She heard a car pull up somewhere behind her and quickly ran inside, not wanting to see anyone as tears brimmed in her eyes. The final student had her feet up on her mother's dashboard and was leaning on her palm as she looked straight ahead of her. Her mother just glanced at her before nudging her shoulder with her's and nodding towards the school once she got her attention. The girl sighed.

"I said I'm sorry, okay?" Molly groaned, seeing the look of disappointment in her mother's eyes. Mrs Foster just shrugged.

"Just get this over with, okay? We can talk about any other punishments when you get home." Molly closed her eyes in defeat. "Don't waste anymore time, you're going to be late as it is if you're not careful."

"I don't care." She grumbled and that set her mother off.

"Don't give me that. Out. Now!" Molly swore under her breath but grabbed a hold of her backpack, pulling it up her arm and getting out of the car, kicking the door shut with her combat boot just to put the icing on the cake of bad luck she had baked for herself. Her mum just drove off and out of the school without a second glance and Molly let out a long winded sigh. She slowly turned to face the school, noticing a girl dressed in all black at the entrance watching her before hurrying inside. Molly frowned.

"Great." She sucked it up and trudged her way up to the large, glass double doors and forced her way inside. The school was completely different like this, looking practically abandoned when there wasn't thousands of annoying, and very loud, kids running around inside. Molly dragged her feet across the squeaky clean floors, just for good measure, and smirked as she passed a locker and noticed the scrawled graffiti on it.

 **OPEN THIS LOCKER AND YOU DIE, FAG!**

Friendly. Molly smirked and leant over to flick the locker before shoving her hands into her pockets and walking off. "Bite me." She then strolled towards the library whistling a Billy Idol song as she went. She expected to be the last in the library, fashionably late she tended to call it nowadays, but once she got in there, she realised that not everyone had arrived yet. So far there was only one girl sitting right at the front in the first row, covered from head to toe in expensive clothing, with a very bored expression on her face. Then a tall, skinny blonde kid on the table behind her, setting his stuff down and trying to get comfortable. She recognised Brian almost instantly from her Physics class and nodded at him with a smile. He froze for a moment, not realising who she was, before nodding back stiffly. Molly raised her eyebrows once her back was turned and sighed, so much for making friends today. She slumped down on the table opposite to the red head, and sat on the farthest seat so she could get a good view of the room. The library was enormous compared to the rest of Shermer High School, with different floors and endless bookcases. Molly fidgeted in her seat whilst taking it all in just as a boy wearing a letterman's jacket came in, wiping his mouth and licking his lips, evidently just using the water fountain down the hall. He stood at the front table where Claire was sat and nodded at the last seat on the row. She nodded with a curt smile and Andrew perched on the chair, chucking his bag underneath the desk and leaning back. Molly looked him up and down and wondered how someone could actually like running around all day in tight gym clothes. That's when Bender showed up.

Everyone heard him before they saw him, the clattering of door handles and locks could be heard from the library entrance and Molly curiously watched as John staggered in, managing to graze his hand over everything on the front desk, even going as far as to take some neon pink post it notes before making his way over to the rest of them. All eyes were on him, which is exactly what he wanted, as he ventured to the middle table on the right side of the room, glaring down at Brian who apparently had sat in his seat. Brian instantly grabbed all of his things and stumbled over to the table behind Molly's, sitting down without a second thought as John practically snarled at him. He then grabbed a chair and pulled it to face him so when he sat down he had a good place to rest his boot covered feet, leaning lazily back against another wooden chair. As he was doing this, Allison barged in, holding her bag tight to her chest and ignoring everyone's curious gazes as she made a beeline all the way around the tables and behind the large, grey statue in the centre of the room, before taking a seat at the farthest table, turning her back to everyone and doing her best to ignore the sniggers from Claire and Andy.

Molly just pulled her sunglasses down from her head to her nose and leant against the railing behind her chair, propping her feet up and tapping a tune to a new song she had been working on, mouthing the lyrics to herself as everyone waited for their least favourite person. Richard Vernon. The asshole who had given each kid a reason to be here today. They all despised him, mostly Bender due to the two's constant bickering and arguing either during the school day or beyond. Bender seemed to have a bone to pick with Vernon, or 'Dick' as he had so fondly nicknamed him, and did everything in his power to make the man furious whenever he could. Today would be no exception.

The devil himself walked in only a moment later, striding over and looking as smug as he always did, before stopping at the front of the room and looking around. "Well, well. Here we are." The room was dead silent. "I want to congratulate you for being on time." Claire took this opportunity to raise her dainty, manicured hand.

"Excuse me, sir?" Her voice oozed innocence and Molly raised an eyebrow at her. Vernon merely glanced in her direction. "I think there's been a mistake. I know its detention, but, I don't think I belong in _here_." There was a pause before Vernon looked away and checked his watch.

"It is now, seven-oh-six." He said, purposefully ignoring Claire and earning a huff from her. Brian quickly changed his watch to match the time, most likely to count down the minutes until he had to go home. And study. Molly took a look at the clock hanging on the wall and slumped in her seat. Today was going to be hell. "You have exactly 8 hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here." Bender made a loud hacking noise, deep within his throat and shook his hair away from his face before leaning back and harshly spitting into the air, only to catch it back in his mouth a second later. Claire looked downright disgusted and Molly turned away so she didn't have a direct view of him. "To ponder the error of your ways." Vernon continued. "You may not talk." He pointed directly at Claire. "You will not move from these seats," He glared at Brian who had just gotten up to move one seat over, only to reluctantly sit back in his original chair. "And you," he walked straight up to Bender, knocking his feet off the chair and dragging it back to its original place, earning a hard glare from John. "Will not sleep." Vernon then stood up straight and ruffled the papers in his hands. "Alright people, we're going to try something a little different today." No one looked even the slightest bit thrilled at that. "We are going to write an essay," he explained, handing out the papers to everyone one by one, starting with Allison and ending with Claire. "Of no less than a thousand words, describing to me who you think you are."

"Is this a test?" Bender asked, feigning innocence like Claire had. Vernon ignored him and carried on handing out paper.

"And when I say essay, I mean essay." He said sternly. Bender grimaced and put his feet up on the table in front of him. "I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr Bender?" Vernon asked. Bender looked away and fiddled with his coat sleeve.

"Crystal." He drawled in a bored tone. That was enough for Vernon.

"Good, maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself. Maybe you'll decide whether or not you care to return." Brian eagerly put his hand up and Molly stared at him in disbelief as the boy stood up and cleared his throat.

"Uh, you know I can answer that right now, sir, you know that would be no, from me, because-"

"Sit down Johnson." Vernon said impatiently and Brian just nodded a few times and smiled awkwardly.

"Thank you, sir." He said. Molly couldn't help but smile at him a little but looked back at the Principle. Bender had been smiling too in amusement.

"My office, is just across that hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?" No one said anything, Andrew turned away the second Vernon looked at him and Claire bit her lip. Molly looked at her feet just as Bender sat up in his seat a little.

"Yeah, I got a question." He announced to everyone, once again gaining the attention of every person in the room. "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?" Claire and Andrew had to bite back smiles, as they were right under Vernon's nose, but Molly just about managed to conceal a grin as Vernon pointed at Bender and scowled.

"I can give you the answer to that question, Mr Bender, next Saturday." John just watched him. "Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns." And with that, Vernon waltzed out of the room and into his office, slamming his door shut behind him. Molly let out a breath of air and sank lower down so she could try and get comfortable enough to take a nap. Bender pointed at Vernon's retreating back.

"That man," he said to Brian, "is a brownie hound." Brian looked lost but nodded, not wanting to annoy the kid that could probably give him a bruise just by looking at him. After that, nobody spoke. Andrew undid his jacket buttons whilst Claire folded her arms and huffed again. John smirked to himself and moved his feet around on the desk, letting the loose laces swing across the table. Brian just fiddled with his hands and Molly tried her best to drown everything out and get some shut eye, but then she heard a snapping sound from the back of the room. She looked over at Allison, who still had her back to everybody, and slowly removed her sunglasses to stare at her in confusion. Brian frowned back, thinking he was the target of her eyeline, but then followed her gaze to the girl behind him. Soon, the other three notice what was happening and stared as well. It took a moment for Allison to stop biting at her thumb nail and realise everyone's judgemental looks, her eyes widened in shock. But then went right back to biting.

"You keep eating your hand and you're not gonna be hungry for lunch." Bender said slyly. Allison paused and then spat at him, completely missing and making his smirk grow wider. "I've seen you before, you know." He stated, pointing a finger at her. Allison just turned away. Bender then trailed his eyes to the front of the room where Molly was sat and cocked his head to the side. "And you. I've seen you too."

"Someone's gotta good eye." Molly replied behind her leather jacket.

"You're always locked in that music room." Bender said. "Play anything good?"

"Everything and nothing, can you leave me alone?" Molly snapped and Bender shrugged carelessly. Silence. Brian took a pen from his pocket, mumbling to himself, and pressed his teeth down on the end to make the pen click and for the nib to pop out. He did this multiple times, staring at the ceiling.

"Who do I think I am? Who are you?" This went on for a while and Molly was ready to snap, and by the look on Andrew's face across from her he felt the same way. Brian eventually managed to get the pen lid between his teeth, the button for the nib slightly up his nose. He let go of the pen and let it hang from his mouth. "Who are you?" He repeated. "I'm a walrus." Bender looked less than impressed with him and narrowed his eyes until Brian slowly turned to meet his gaze. He gulped and took the pen out of his mouth with a nervous laugh. Bender ripped his scarf away from his neck. Brian tried to calm down, as he began to get flustered at the embarrassing stunt, and started to take his coat off, only to quickly realise Bender was doing the exact same thing. Neither boy noticing at first. Bender then glared at Brian and Brian dragged his coat up his arms once again, allowing John to remove his trench coat. Brian then rubbed his arms, as if to say he was cold. Bender just rested his arm against the table and leant forward to study Brian. Molly couldn't stop herself from watching the scene unfold beneath her glasses and was trying her best not to smile at the two of them. Idiots, she thought and folded her arms. Brian turned to Bender.

"It's the shits, huh?" He said. Bender didn't react. Brian just laughed, again and breathed out in relief once Bender turned his attention to the two kids at the front, grinning wickedly and scrunching up his piece of paper before throwing it at a perfect angle over Claire's head, making her roll her eyes. Andrew just sighed, knowing what was about to happen. After getting no reaction, Bender looked down at his feet and started recreating the bass line from 'Sunshine of Your Love', jerking his shoulders in time to the beat he was making with his feet. He eventually began playing air guitar, badly in Molly's opinion, and sat up in his chair, flipping his hair back.

"I can't believe this is really happening to me." Claire said dramatically to Andy, just before Bender swore a little too loudly.

"Shit! What are we supposed to do if we have to take a piss?!"

"Oh, please." Claire complained and Andrew shook his head in annoyance. Bender looked wildly around the room at everyone but then shrugged and leant forward onto the desk, moving his hands out of sight.

"If you gotta go, you gotta go." Molly shot up in her seat, in fear of what he was doing, and even Claire turned round only to blush and face forward again.

"Oh my god." She breathed. Andrew turned around and watched Bender in disbelief.

"Hey, you're not urinating in here man." He said and Bender shook his head. Molly and Brian shared a concerned look.

"Don't talk, don't talk! It makes it crawl back up." Bender said. Brian then got curious and tilted his head to look under the desk and Molly scoffed at him, making him blush and look away.

"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor." Andrew threatened. That made Bender stop and look up. He smiled, baring his teeth.

"You're pretty sexy when you get angry." Bender drawled, growling a little under his breath as Andy turned to face the front again. John immediately sat up again and folded his arms on the desk. His head spun round to Brian. "Hey, homeboy." Brian pointed at himself in confusion. "Why don't you go and close that door?" Bender cocked his head towards Molly. "We can get the musician impregnated." Molly whipped her head round and stared at him with a scowl. Brian bit his lip and quickly looked away. Even Claire looked shocked at Bender's words. It was so easy to rile these guys up, he thought to himself, but then saw Andy trying to get his attention.

"Hey. Hey!" Andy hissed at him.

"What?" Bender snapped.

"If I lose my temper, you're totalled man." He threatened.

"Totally?" Bender mocked. Andrew didn't flinch.

"Totally." Molly mentally thanked him for sticking up for her, even though she guessed Clarke was just getting fed up Bender's antics already, not that she blamed him. She had heard John around school for years, constantly getting high at lunch or bunking off whenever he felt like it. Yet she had never managed an actual conversation with him until today, and even then it had been only a sentence from each of them. And no wonder, Molly looked John up and down, he was annoying as hell when he opened his mouth.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Molly saw Claire looking at John with an irritated look on her face. "Nobody here's interested." John pretended to look hurt and even faked a small sob. Claire turned back around at the same time as Andy.

"Really. Buttface." Molly sniggered. Bender looked her way for a split second.

"Well hey Sporto, what did you do to get in here? Forget to wash your jock?" John accused.

"Uh, excuse me fella's, I think we should just write our papers." Brian tried to cut in, but Andy was already turned back around to John. Molly shrugged at Brian, knowing the way these two were getting on meant that nothing could interrupt them from arguing.

"You know, just because you live in here it doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass," Andrew spat, "so knock it off!" John just nodded sadly.

"It's a free country." He pointed out and Andy just shook his head in defeat. Molly took the opportunity to put her glasses on the table and take her jacket off with a sigh. As Claire leant over the table.

"He's just doing it to get a rise out of you." She said in a hushed voice to Andy.

"She's right." Molly cut in. "Just ignore him." That got Bender's attention. He flipped his hair back and watched her for a moment.

"Sweets." He said, and Molly slowly looked at him. He smirked, _again_. "You couldn't ignore me if you tried." Molly raised an eyebrow.

"Watch me." She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. She could have sworn she heard Brian laughing quietly into his hand behind her and she felt a smile appear on her face. Even Andy looked somewhat smug. Allison put in her two cents and turned around to watch the action. Bender twitched his nose and sniffed, annoyed at the rejection but trying not to be too obvious about it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Load up**

There was a beat of silence before John tried to, once again, make conversation.

"So." He said simply. "So." A lot louder this time, in hopes of getting the two in front of him to listen. "Are you guys like boyfriend girlfriend?" Andrew and Claire shuffled around in their seats, clearly uncomfortable. Molly was curious, seeing as the two were both in the popular crowd and could have easily dated before. But she didn't want to start asking questions, she wasn't going to be a second John. They could hardly cope with the one they already had. "Steady dates?" He pressed on. "Lovers?" Still no reaction. Bender leant forward and practically moaned in anticipation. "Come on, Sporto. Level with me. Do you slip her the hot beef injection?" Blushing, Claire and Andrew whipped around and yelled at him simultaneously.

"Go to hell!"

"Enough!" Bender practically giggled but then stopped as he heard Vernon's voice from across the hall.

"Hey! What's going on in there?!" Nobody dared to speak up, so Vernon shook his head and went back to reading the paper. "Smug little pricks." He grumbled. Bender grinned to himself and Claire just turned away. From the back, Allison tilted her head to look at them all, revealing a small smile on her face.

"Scumbag." Andrew muttered. Molly let out a low whistle at what just happened and Brian sat back in his chair, still startled by the preppy kids outburst. Bender then stood up and walked up to the railing, pointing at the door and turned to the kids at the front.

"What do you say we close that door?" He suggested. He had something in mind, everyone knew it. "We can't have a party with Vernon checking us out every few seconds." Andrew scoffed at him, clearly fed up.

"Lamest party ever." Molly said and kicked her feet up onto the desk. Brian looked up at Bender.

"You know, the door's supposed to stay open." He said.

"So what?" Bender asked.

"So why don't you just shut up?" Andrew snapped. "There's five other people in here you know." Bender rested his elbows on his knees.

"Oh, you _can_ count. See, I knew you had to be smart to be a...a _wrestler_."

"Who the hell are you to judge anybody, anyway?" Andrew added snidely.

"Really." Claire agreed. Bender didn't seem to like that.

"You know Bender, you don't even count." Andrew continued. Molly's eyes went to John's and for a split second she thought she saw a hint of hurt in them. "I mean, if you disappeared forever it wouldn't make any difference." Bender looked away. "You may as well not even exist at this school." John and Allison managed to exchange looks, Molly seeing that neither of them knew what to do or how to react to what Andy was saying. As much as Molly didn't like John, she felt Clarke was being a little too harsh with his wording. Bender blinked a few times and licked his dry lips, leaving Molly to feel sympathy for him. Even if he was crude, he didn't deserve to hear that. No one did. Bender then looked back and put on a smug face.

"Well, I guess I'll run right out and join the wrestling team." Andrew and Claire looked at each and laughed at him, wondering why the hell he would even suggest something as absurd as that. "Maybe the prep club too, student council."

Andrew immediately shook his head. "Nah, they wouldn't take you."

"I'm hurt." John said sarcastically.

"You know why guys like you knock everything?" Claire spoke up.

"Oh this should be stunning." Molly tried to conceal a snort.

"It's because you're afraid." She said.

"Oh god, you richies are so smart!" Bender mocked. "That's exactly why I'm not heavy in activities!"

"You're a big coward." Claire continued. Brian cleared his throat behind Molly.

"I'm in the math club." He said, rather proudly and Molly laughed.

"You do extra math?" Brian nodded, unfazed by the fact she was digging at him.

"I'm good at it." He said simply. "Why not enjoy it too?" Molly understood that. It was the same with her and music. She knew she was good at playing, she wouldn't be in a band if she wasn't, and tried to play guitar and write as much as she could outside of school. She felt bad for laughing at Brian and was about to apologise when the other kids conversation came back into earshot.

"You're afraid that they won't take you, that you don't belong, so you just have to dump all over it." Claire said matter of factly. John looked bored at this point.

"Well," He said slowly, "it wouldn't have anything to do with you activites people being assholes, now would it?"

"You wouldn't know." Claire said. "You don't even know any of us."

"You don't know him either." Molly spoke up. Claire side eyed her from across the room and Molly shrugged. "It's true. You don't know _any_ of us." She pointed at herself, Brian and Allison. Brian nodded in agreement, still rattling on about the clubs he's in too no one in particular. Claire raised her eyebrows quickly, ignoring Molly's statement, before turning to John again. He wasn't looking at her anymore, just watching Molly. She rubbed her hands together and looked at Brian, trying not to feel self conscious under Bender's gaze; something she wasn't used too.

"Well, I don't know any lepers either." John eventually got back to Claire. "But I'm not gonna run out and join one of their fucking clubs." Andrew nearly snarled.

"Let's watch the mouth, huh?" He said seriously, just as Brian's voice suddenly became known to them.

"I'm in the physics club too." He said proudly.

"Excuse me a sec." John nodded at Andy and Claire, turning to Brian. "What are you babbling about?"

"What I said was, I'm in the math club, the latin club and the physics club. Physics club..." He trailed off slightly at the end, realising everyone's eyes were on him. Bender bent down towards Claire.

"Hey, cherry." He sneered, making her grimace. "Do you belong to the physics club?"

"That's an academic club." She said, like it was obvious.

"So?"

"So, academic clubs aren't the same as other types of clubs." Bender nodded and sat up on the railing, pointing to Brian.

"Ah, but to dorks like him, they are." Molly stiffened at the name choice but Brian didn't seem that upset, so she let it slide. Claire at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed at what she said and looked over at Brian. "What do you guys do in your club?" Bender asked. Brian gulped.

"Um, in psychics well, we, uh, talk about physics, uh, properties of physics." Bender raised his arms up.

"So it's sort of social!" He said to Claire. "Demented and sad," he added, "but social, right?"

"I guess you could consider it a social situation." Brian said. "I mean, there are other children in my club, and uh, at the end of the year we have um, we have a big banquet, at the you know, at the Hilton."

"You load up, you party?" John teasingly shimmied his chest, making Molly chuckle. The two shared a look before Brian continued talking.

"Well no, we get dressed up." He said. "I mean, but we don't get _high_."

"Only burner's like you get high." Claire said slyly at Bender. He huffed then pointed at Molly.

"She must be one too then." He said, Claire looked over. Molly took her feet off the desk and crossed her arms.

"Don't drag me into this." She said.

"It's true. I've seen you, under the bleachers, thinking no one notices. _I_ see you." Bender triumphantly stated. Molly rolled her eyes and tried not to see Brian's confused expression. It was true that the only people who smoked at Shermer High School were Bender and his 'burnout' friends. But Molly occasionally did too, alone, when she was stressed. Mostly due to the band or her parents nagging her. Her drummer, Steph, had a pretty good deal with his older brother and gave her discount weed whenever she wanted it. But she hadn't intended for anyone at school to find out, always picking a closed off part of the bleachers to sit and think for an hour or so. But apparently Bender had still...seen her. He smirked. Molly glared. If he stopped doing that, she would die happy. Brian looked away from Molly and went back to talking to Bender, even though he was still fixated on her.

"Um, one time I didn't have any shoes, so I had to borrow my Dad's. It was kinda weird because my mom doesn't like me to wear other people's shoes. And my cousin Ken...my cousin Kendall, from Indiana, he got high once," He went on, as Allison made a gun motion with her finger at the back of Andrew's head, making sure he wasn't looking. But Molly was, and frowned in confusion. She chose to ignore it however and tried focusing on Brian again, although Bender's stare was making her feel uneasy. "And he started eating really weird foods, and he felt like he didn't belong anywhere, you know, kinda like you know, Twilight Zone, kinda."

"Sounds like you." Claire said smugly and John looked from Molly to her, only to sneer.

"Look, you guys keep up your talking and Vernon's gonna come right in here, and I gotta meet this Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it on account of you boneheads." Andrew cut in, sounding both fed up and concerned that Vernon was going to barge in and catch them. Bender started getting agitated and shook his hands, pretending to be nervous.

"Oh, wouldn't that be a bite, huh?" He mocked. "Missing a whole wrestling meet!" Andrew suddenly turned on him.

"You wouldn't know anything about it, faggot!" Molly stared at him in shock from across the room and Brian spluttered. Bender just watched him curiously. "You never competed in your whole life!"

"Oh, I know." Bender faked a sad, desperate and frankly whiny voice. "I feel all empty inside because of it." Molly couldn't help but let out a small giggle, knowing full well she despised the thought of wrestling and thought it was the dumbest sport out there. She was thankful that not everyone in this school was so obsessed with it. Even if it was just Bender. "I have such a deep admiration for guys, who roll around on the floor with other guys!"

"Ah you'd never miss it. You don't have any goals." Andrew said.

"Oh, but I do." Bender smiled.

"Yeah?" Andrew said, unamused.

"I wanna be. Just. Like. You. I figure, all I need is a lobotomy and some tights." Molly snorted and Brian looked overly interested.

"You wear tights?" He asked. Andy spun around and glared at him.

"No I don't wear tights! I wear the required uniform!" He snapped.

"Tights." Brian and I said at the same time, laughing together as Andy rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his cropped, blonde hair.

"Shut up." He seethed. Allison was smiling behind everybody and Molly couldn't help but do the same. It was amusing for everyone else except Claire and Andy, and she didn't have much of a problem with that. The group then heard some rustling from Vernon's office, their heads all snapping to see if he was coming in. Bender didn't want to risk it, and hurried over to sit in the chair in between Andy and Claire, much to their disgust and patiently waited, twiddling his thumbs, until they couldn't hear anything. Bender inhaled, loudly, and then shot up from the chair and headed over towards the door.

"Uh, you know there's not supposed to be any monkey business." Brian pointed out. Bender then turned around with a hard stare and pointed at him.

"Young man!" He demanded in a stern voice, sounding a little too much like Vernon, "Have you finished your paper?" He then swirled around and rushed to the door, slowly peering out left and right before reaching up on his toes and fiddling with the door hinges. Molly pushed herself up onto the desk to get a better look and shook her head in amusement as she saw Bender pulling screws out the top of the door. Brian looked like he was going to have a fit, and to be honest so did Andy.

"Come on Bender, don't screw around!" He called out.

"What's he gonna do?" Claire asked.

"Drop dead, I hope." Andy muttered. Molly gave him a look then continued to watch John do his work. She then jumped off the desk with a sigh and went over to him, noticing he was having some trouble with one of the screws and becoming frantic, waiting for Vernon to turn a corner and catch him.

"Move." She grunted and pushed him away from the door with her hip, standing on her tiptoes and hitting the side of door with her clenched fist, making the screw pop out and into John's outstretched hand. He stared at it before smiling at her, clearly impressed. Molly blew a loose piece of hair from her face.

"Thought you were giving me the silent treatment?" He asked, clearly amused. Molly didn't say anything and just walked back to her desk, sitting in the chair furthest away and propping her feet up again. Bender grinned, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Bender, that's school property there!" Brian pointed out as Bender got the final screws out and collected them in his hand. "It doesn't belong to us, you know, it's not something to be toyed with." Just as he said that, the door slammed shut and Bender walked back over to the tables. He was about to go to his desk when he changed his mind and hurried over to Molly, shoving the screws into the exposed pocket of her leather jacket, giving her a short and subtle wink, then rushed back to his seat without letting her argue.

"Alright, very funny, now fix it." Andrew demanded, looking between John and Molly frantically, but Bender was already pulling his chair out.

"You should really fix that." Brian said, staring at Molly's jacket. She did the same and was about to take the screws and stand up but Bender shook his head slowly, and she glanced at the door. It was too late now, Vernon could come in at any second.

"Idiot." She muttered and just let herself sit back. It's not like she had much of a choice, thanks to John Dick-Of-The-Year Bender.

"Am I a genius?" Bender asked and Andrew scowled.

"No, you're an asshole!" Andy cried.

"Oh, what a funny guy!" Bender mocked, glaring at him.

"Fix the door!"

"Look, listen I've been here before okay, I know what I'm doing."

"No!" Andy yelled. "Get up there and fix it!"

"SHUT UP!" Bender shouted, just as Vernon realised the door was closed. Everyone turned their heads in shock as they heard a loud "God damn it!" Molly, out of instinct, grabbed her jacket, holding the pocket full of screws close to her, and placed it on her lap, sitting up back against the chair as casually as she could without drawing attention to herself as Vernon barged in.

"Why is that door closed?" He demanded. No one spoke, everyone's eyes facing forwards or down at the ground. "Why is that door closed?!" He exclaimed, a lot louder this time.

"How are we supposed to know, we're not supposed to move, right?" Bender chipped in. Vernon's nostrils flared in anger. He turned his attention to Claire.

"Why?" She was stuck for a second but collected herself and licked her lips.

"We're just sitting here." She said, innocently, and in that moment Molly was more than thankful for her being there. "Like we're supposed to." Vernon still didn't seem to buy it, however, and walked over to Brian's desk.

"Who closed that door?" Brian's eyes widened in fright and Molly wanted to help, but she didn't want to move in case the screws fell onto the floor, ruining everything.

"I think a screw fell out of it." Bender said.

"It just closed, sir." Andy said reluctantly. Bender looked more than pleased with himself.

"Who?" Vernon yelled across the room at Allison. Molly watched as the girl stiffened, squeaked and then slammed her head down onto the table, her Parka hood covering her completely.

"She doesn't talk sir." Bender said. Allison squeaked again. Molly gulped down her nerves and cradled her jacket closer. Vernon neared Bender with a cold stare.

"Give me that screw." He said slowly.

"I don't have it." Bender said. It was weird that he was technically telling the truth, Molly had it. And the urge to laugh was getting very tempting, but she kept a straight face as Vernon leaned down.

"You want me to yank you out of that seat and shake it out of you?" He threatened.

"I don't have it." John insisted. "Screws fall out all the time, the world's an imperfect place." Molly had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from laughing and she even smiled a little when John looked at her directly passed Vernon's arm.

"Give it to me, Bender." Vernon insisted.

"Excuse me, sir, but why would anyone want to steal a screw?" The words left Molly's mouth before she could stop herself and Claire and Brian's eyes widened at her.

"Watch it, young lady!" Vernon snapped. Molly tried not to frown at him. Bender watched her in shock at the fact she stood up for him, his eyes flickering over to Brian's concerned face, before coming back to focus on the Principle who was now walking over to the door and dragging a metal chair with him. Molly let out a sigh of relief and then watched Vernon try to prop the heavy door open with the chair. Everyone waited with baited breath as he struggled to keep the door open with one of his feet and Bender decided to speak up again.

"The door is, way, too heavy sir." He said. He didn't even sound condescending this time. Vernon ignored him however and carried on what he was doing. He stood proudly, looking down at the chair, and let the door go...only for it to slam shut in his face and throw the chair into the hallway. Everyone had to stifle a laugh, even Allison came up for air from underneath her hood and gasped. After yelling at the chair, and the door, Vernon marched back in and put his hands on his hips, before clicking his fingers at Andrew.

"Andrew Clarke!" Andy lifted his head and stared at him. "Get up here." He barked. "Come on, front and centre. Let's go!" Andy grudgingly got up and went over to help him, wishing he wasn't known as the 'strongest' one out of the bunch for once. Molly tilted her head to get a better view as Vernon and Andrew desperately tried to haul a stand filled with leaflets and papers in front of the door, practically blocking the entire entry way.

"Hey, how come Andrew gets to get up?" Bender asked in annoyance. "If he gets up, we'll all get up! It'll be anarchy!" Molly smirked at him but carefully fiddled with the screws in her pocket to keep her mind at ease, still worried Vernon was going to somehow find out what had happened. However, he was too busy instructing Andrew on where to place the shelving unit.

"Watch the magazines." He said and shuffled forwards whilst Andrew went backwards and out the door. Bender just threw his hands up in defeat and shook his head.

"It's out of my hands." He said. Andy then tried to climb over the unit to get back inside, but fell slightly and and knocked over a bunch of papers. Claire giggled and Molly couldn't help but do the same. Everything about this was too good.

"That's very clever, sir." Bender sarcastically piped up. "But what if there's a fire?" He raised an eyebrow at Vernon from across the room who stopped in his tracks to think. "I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir." Molly was looking at him with such amazement. The things this guy said…

It somehow caught Vernon's attention however, and he rolled his eyes at Andrew before pointing at the shelves. "Alright, what are you doing? What are you doing with this? Get this thing out of here for god sake!" He accused Andrew and stood back as the jock shoved the unit back to where it was, grumbling to himself all the way about how stupid this entire ordeal had been. Bender had never looked so pleased with himself.

"Well, you know the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the library-" Brian chimed in, pointing to the front and then the back of the room. Molly shook her head at him just as Bender turned towards him, a hard stare on his face.

"Show Dick some respect!" He mocked and Andrew trudged back to his seat, Vernon hot on his heels.

"Go, get back in your seat." He said. Andy folded his arms once he was comfortable and looked at Vernon, clearly fed up. "I expected a little more from a Varsity Letterman." Andrew stared at him and Molly felt bad for the kid. He was just doing as he was told for god sake. She shook her head at Vernon's words and slumped down in her chair. Vernon looked up. "You're not fooling anybody, Bender." He said. "The next screw that falls out is gonna be you." Bender merely leant back in his seat, saying something under his breath that no one could hear. Vernon's nostrils flared again and he marched over to stand in front of him.

"What was that?" Bender leant back in his chair, leaning an arm casually over the back of it and looked Vernon dead in the eyes

"Eat. My. Shorts." He repeated, slowly and clearly for everyone to hear. Molly's eyes widened and Brian shifted uncomfortably. Even Andrew and Claire looked concerned.

"You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister!" Vernon pointed at him.

"Uh, I'm crushed." He groaned sarcastically.

"You just bought one more, right there!"

"Well I'm free the Saturday after that!" Bender spoke up, "Beyond that, I'm gonna have to check my calendar." Molly had no idea whether to laugh or try to intervene. She didn't want the kid to be stuck in this room forever, but then again, he was also the reason Vernon was even back in here yelling at him. She let it play out and Brian looked at her as if to say he agreed.

"Good!" Vernon cried. "Because it's gonna be filled!" Bender sat back. "We can keep going!" Vernon suggested. "You want another one?" Bender looked down and Molly assumed he was starting to realise what he was doing. "Say the word, just say the word and instead of going to prison you'll come here!"

"Ass." Molly hissed, thankfully only catching Brian's attention. He looked just as worried as she did and tried to look at Andy and Claire, even Allison, to see if anyone was going to speak up. But no one did. Bender folded his arms and glared up at Vernon.

"Are you through?" The Principal asked. There was a pause.

"No." He barked.

"I'm doing society a favor!" Vernon jeered.

"So?" Bender snapped back just as quickly.

"That's another one, right now!" Vernon was on the verge of grinning with how much he was enjoying this, having power of Bender all of a sudden. The kid was literally asking for it. "I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?" He asked.

"Yes!" Bender replied.

"You got it!" Vernon shouted. "You got another one, right there! That's another one, pal!"

"Cut it out!" Molly's voice broke slightly as she called out to Bender, his eyes instantly going to hers. She mouthed "Stop" at him, pleading with him to just let it go and make Vernon leave them all alone. Bender's mouth opened, as if to reply, but Vernon carried on, ignoring Molly's outburst and getting into John's face.

"You through?" Vernon asked.

"Not even close, bud!" Bender said snidely, his anger coming right back.

"Good. You got one more, right there." Bender narrowed his eyes at him.

"You really think I give a shit?" Molly, Brian and Andy held their breath as Claire bit her lip. Allison was frozen in place.

"Another." Vernon growled. The two locked eyes and stared at one another for a while. "You through?" Vernon asked again.

"How many is that?" Bender asked innocently. Brian cleared his throat and Molly shook his head at him, but he didn't listen.

"That's seven, including when we first came in and you asked Mr Vernon here, whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet-"

"Now it's eight, stay out of this Johnson." Vernon said rudely.

"Excuse me sir, it's seven!" Brian even counted on his fingers and held them up but Vernon was too hot to care.

"Shut it, Peewee!" Brian nodded and looked down at the table. Molly was far beyond fed up at this point.

"You can't talk to him like that!" She cried and Vernon swung around.

"Looks like you'll be joining Bender here next weekend, Miss Foster. You wanna start this too?" Molly closed her mouth firmly and looked at the ground. She couldn't get any more detentions, her parents would flip. Vernon scoffed. "Just as I thought. So button it!" Vernon brought his attention back to Bender and made a rock n roll sign with his hands before slowly walking off. "You're mine, Bender." He pointed out. "For two months, I got you." He put his hand down and smirked. "I got you." John looked away for a second but then huffed.

"What can I say? I'm thrilled."

"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe." Vernon snapped. "You know something Bender? You ought to spend a little more time, trying to do something with yourself, and a little less time trying to impress people." Bender was nodding along sarcastically, but Molly could tell he was trying not to yell or make a scene. She was trying just as hard. "You might be better off." Vernon finished, looking around at the shocked faces of the others. "Right, that's it!" His voice louder and sharper than before. "I'm gonna be right outside those doors, the next time I have to come in here, I'm cracking skulls!" Bender mouthed along with the words as he said it, clearly having been here so many times before that it was an empty threat now. With that, Mr Vernon walked straight out of the library without turning back, leaving everyone to their stunned silence. Allison gingerly raised her head and pulled back her hood.

Bender's lips twitched and the second the door closed he leant back and shouted at the top of his lungs. "FUCK YOU!" On the other side of the door, Vernon hesitated. He wanted to beat the shit out of that kid, even if he lost his job he would feel satisfaction for it. But he sighed. He wasn't worth it. Back in the library, everyone sat completely still, except for Bender who sat forward in his chair and stared at the desk, realising what he had just done and the possible repercussions of it. "Fuck." Molly just watched him with sad eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Load up

The clock seemed to tick on forever yet time was barely passing. It wasn't even quarter to eight and everyone in the library was bored to death and doing their own thing to try and make time go faster. Bender had his foot on the table, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, whilst lighting the end of his shoe on fire with a match. Once the flame was high enough, he grabbed his shoe and pulled it to his mouth, lighting the cigarette and leaning back to take a long drag. Claire was sat with her arm against the table, her cheek resting on her outstretched palm, and daydreaming. Her mouth moved and her eyes were glazed over and she occasionally bit down on her bottom lip, focusing on anything but the people around her.

Brian however focused on Molly, who was reaching her arms above her head to stretch, exposing the pale flesh of her stomach, and closed her eyes. To Brian's discomfort she let out a small moan in relief as her arms clicked and he muffled a squeak as he desperately tried to sit comfortable in his seat, pulling at the seam in his trousers, and eventually opting to place his hat over his crotch and lean against his crossed arms, not being able to look at her without staring and praying that no one would notice what was happening. He just didn't know that Allison had been watching him the entire time.

Andy was busy pulling at his hoodie strings with both hands, moving them from side to side and raising an eyebrow at the right one as he pretended that the string was sneaking up behind him. Allison moved her attention from Brian to a piece of loose fabric coming off of her oversized jumper, wrapping it around her forefinger slowly, but tightly. Bender patted out the flame on his shoe and leant back, playing air guitar once again and smiling to himself. Molly watched him from the corner of her eye, wishing she was playing her guitar right now, and swallowed when Bender looked back at her. Allison eventually threw away the string, no longer wanting to stop the circulation from her finger, and started to draw a landscape portrait of a bridge in the woods with her biro. Brian side eyed her as she started shaking her head, letting tiny dandruff flakes fall onto the page and recreate the look of snow. He grimaced. She smiled widely.

Andy flicked a piece of scrunched up paper from his desk onto the floor and silently cheered himself as if he had just kicked a field goal, patting himself on the shoulder before suddenly sinking down, embarrassed when Molly and Claire both looked at him blankly. Soon, everyone's eyes began to droop, the minutes ticking on and on, and Molly rested her legs up on the table and used her leather jacket as a pillow. Brian fell asleep sitting up straight, his head tilted back. Allison and Andy both leant against their hands whilst Bender sprawled himself across the back table. Claire was the only one left awake for a few seconds before failing to keep her eyes open, slumping down onto her arm.

Vernon stood there for a moment, wondering how long they had been like this, before sighing. "Wake up!" No one moved. He sighed again. "Who has to go the lavatory?" All six hands shot up. Andrew led the way to the nearest bathrooms, with Claire following right behind him, Brian behind her, then Molly, then Bender and finally Allison, who was dragging along her bag and coat. Vernon was a few paces behind, keeping an eye on everyone, mostly Bender, and sneering at them all. Why did he have to have the worst group of kids all in one room? John was watching Molly intently, shamelessly allowing his eyes to wander over her figure and back up again. He chuckled, causing her to turn her head slightly.

"Saturday is gonna be fun, huh?" He said, leaning closer to her ear and making her turn to face him properly. She narrowed her eyes.

"It's your fault, you know." She accused and Bender raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't ask you to stick up for me." He said and Molly went quiet. "It'll be fun." He said nudging her shoulder and walking ahead of her. "You definitely won't be able to ignore me then." He grinned a toothy smile and made his way to the front of the pack, dipping into the boy's room the moment he got the chance. Molly just stared at him and groaned. Brian heard and turned round.

"You might be able to get out of it." He said quietly, hoping Vernon didn't hear him.

"What?" Molly asked.

"The detention. If, if you ask Vernon, or, I don't know, do something to make him change his mind, he may let you off." Molly frowned. Brian cleared his throat and began moving his hands around nervously. "I just mean, uh, you know, he hates Bender, not you. I don't blame him, Bender's a jerk, but you still have a chance. He doesn't"

"It's fine." Molly sighed, giving him a grateful smile as she leant against the wall next to the girls room, Brian standing opposite her. "I'll live." She said. She was about to walk into the bathroom when Brian reached out and grabbed her arm. Molly stared at him and he blushed, taking his hand away and stuttering.

"Sorry, I just, uh, wanted to say um, thank you." Molly blinked at him. "For what you said to Vernon." Brian caught the Principal's judging eye from across the hall but continued on. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did." She said, stepping closer to him. "You seem really nice, even if you rattle on." She joked and Brian smiled. "Don't let people walk over you like that, okay?" He nodded and let Molly go inside, grinning and trying to hide his smile behind his hand before doing the same. Inside the bathroom, Claire was fixing her hair whilst Allison had locked herself in one of the cubicles. Molly quickly did her business and returned to the sinks to wash her hands. She looked into the mirror to see Claire watching her. The redhead glanced away the moment their eyes met and Molly stood up straight. "I've seen you before." Molly said. Claire's eyes drifted back to hers.

"Well, I do go here." She said sarcastically. Molly nodded.

"I'm aware." She said. "But I've seen you somewhere else. Where do you hang out?"

"Does it matter?" Claire asked rudely. Molly paused but shook her head, going back to the sink.

"I guess not." She said. Claire peaked over her shoulder nervously. She knew exactly where Molly had seen her but was too embarrassed to admit where she went most weekends, especially without her popular crowd trailing behind her. Claire remembered the flashing lights and the loud music and seeing Molly on stage, it was amazing. Claire practically idolised her for being so adventurous and just...herself. Molly was the most independant girl at Shermer High School and didn't care what people thought about her, basically Claire's polar opposite.

"Jack's." Claire said quietly, surprising Molly. She smiled at her.

"Yeah, I remember you. You go there alot?" Claire shrugged.

"I guess. None of my friends really go there, and I don't like going by myself." Molly knew the typical customers at Jack's bar and they were older than her and Claire, so it was no wonder she only ever saw her every once in awhile, dancing to the beat and mouthing along to the lyrics of their cover songs. She always looks so happy.

"I can get you in for free, if you want." Molly offered and she saw a glint of excitement in Claire's eyes.

"Why?" She asked curiously. "We don't even know each other."

"You like my bands music, that's enough for me to like you." Molly said. Claire was unsure of how to respond but she didn't need too as Allison barged out of the stall, stopping when she saw the two girls looking at her, and hurriedly washed her hands before disappearing out of the room without drying them. Molly and Claire laughed but then went back to just looking at each other.

"Hey," Molly spoke up once Claire had gathered her things. "If Bender gives you more trouble, I'll take care of him."

"He's an asshole." Claire said suddenly and she flushed. "I mean, I just-"

"No, he is an asshole." Molly laughed and extended her arm for Claire to take, which she hesitantly did, but smiled as the two walked out together. They were met by the confused stares of the boys and the two giggled before marching off to the library. Andy shook his head.

"Unbelievable." He muttered, following the two with Allison hot on his heels. Of course the only two people to get along would be the girls. Brian was left alone with Bender and the two didn't know what to say. Brian tapped his fingers together then he opened his mouth and looked at Bender, who held his hand up immediately.

"No." Bender then stalked off behind the others. Brian just ran after him.

At around twenty minutes past nine, the group were back in the library and even more bored. Except this time, Bender was perched on some shelves and tearing up a large book with Brian to his left leaning against a pillar. Molly was opposite him, sitting on the railing and tapping her thigh, trying to figure out a new beat for the band's latest song, scribbling some chords down into her small, black notebook she had taken from her bag once they came back from the bathroom. Andy was stretching his leg on the railing whilst Claire was playing with her nails. Allison was once again sat all the way across the room, watching them all from the corner of her eye. Everyone watched as Bender threw some pages from the book to the back of the room.

"That's real intelligent." Andy said. Bender sneered.

"You're right. It's wrong to destroy literature." He ripped even more pages out as Andy stood up straight, taking his leg away and leaning against the bannister. "It's such fun to read." Bender was riling him up again, everyone knew it. "And," John paused and looked at the spine of the book, "Molay, really pumps my nads."

"Moliere." Molly said without looking up, not seeing Bender stare at her. Claire giggled from her seat.

"I love his work." Brian sighed but was met with the remaining pages of the book being thrown at his head, narrowly missing and dropping to the floor.

"Can it." Molly said sternly. Bender looked away and she could have sworn she saw a slight blush on his cheeks. She had embarrassed him. Claire grinned at Molly and went back to her nails, knowing what had happened. Andrew smirked.

"Big deal." Bender shrugged it off, grabbing another book and ripping at it too. "Nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy." Andrew watched him closely with a hard stare.

"Speak for yourself." Bender looked at him.

"Do you think I'd speak for you?" He snapped, getting Molly's attention. "I don't even know your language." Andrew looked fed up again and Molly waited for a sarcastic response, but nothing came. Instead, Andy turned his back on Bender and looked down at Claire.

"Hey, you grounded tonight?" Claire looked up and thought.

"I don't know. My mom said I was but my dad told me to just blow her off." She shrugged. Andy then turned to look at Bender, making sure he had his attention, before looking at Claire again.

"There's a big party at Stubbies." He said. Bender grabbed some flash cards inside a long draw and started mixing them up, not taking his eyes off of Andrew. Molly saw how angry he was getting, knowing that Andy was trying to exclude him on purpose. "His parents are in Europe. Sounds like it's gonna be pretty wild."

"Yeah?" Claire asked. She then looked down. "I doubt it." Andrew frowned at her.

"How come?"

"Well, because if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it's because my father says it's okay. It's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless, it's a total drag." Bender's movements were becoming more erratic, Molly realised, and the sound of him slamming the cards down was increasing by the second. He clearly wasn't interested in the party anymore, but something else. Molly tried to think. What could be pissing him off? "It's a like any minute, divorce." Claire ended dramatically with an eye roll. Molly scoffed.

"Sounds like my folks." She said. "They were on the brink for years until I went to high school."

"Who do you like better?" Bender directed his question at both the girls and they looked at each other, confused.

"What?" Claire asked.

"You like your old man better than your mom?"

"They're both screwed." Claire said.

"No I mean, if you had to choose between them." Bender sounded genuine for the first time since he got here and he looked between the two girls as he spoke. It was like he really was curious as to what their answer would be.

Claire paused. "I don't know." She said quietly and just stared at her hands.

"My Dad." Bender snapped his head towards Molly, apparently not expecting that answer. She frowned. "My mom's nice and all, but she doesn't like the whole music thing. Dad lives for it. It would be easier to live with him without getting nagged at to do something else with my life." Bender paused then nodded and went back to ruining the cards.

"I'd probably go and live with my brother." Claire said eventually. "I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me." Molly noticed Andy roll his eyes and turn away. He'd heard this before. Claire went from nice to whiny in seconds and Molly realised she didn't like this side of her. The self pitying side. "It's like they use me to get back at each other."

"HAH!" Everyone jumped at the sound of Allison yelling behind them and they all turned to stare at her. Claire glared, Bender was too shocked to even show a response, Molly raised her eyebrows, and Brian frowned, but Andy smiled. A genuine, wide smile. Allison then blew some hair from her eyes and looked away.

"Shut up!" Claire snapped and Molly gave her a disapproving look.

"Just leave it." She said, but Andy interrupted her.

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself." He said, facing Claire properly. Claire's eyes widened and Molly watched curiously.

"Yeah, well if I didn't nobody else would." She said. Andy scoffed.

"Aw, you're breaking my heart." He drawled. Molly didn't like the tone and looked over at Bender who was already watching her. She cocked her head towards Andy, pleading with him silently, and Bender breathed out.

"Sporto?" He jumped from the drawers and put the cards away, walking over to stand beside Molly and look down at Andy, his height making a huge difference.

"What?" Andy snapped, clearly fed up of hearing Bender talk.

"You get along with your parents?" He asked.

"Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" He said. Bender jumped over the railing and stood over him. Claire smiled at him and then at Molly, thanking her silently. Brian walked away from the pillar and stood closer to Molly, accidentally brushing his arm against hers. But neither moved away.

"You're an idiot anyway." Bender said. "But if you say you get along with your parents, well you're a liar too." With that, Bender walked away with a second glance. Andrew watched him, seething, and stalked over to him to push his shoulder, hard, all whilst Brian frowned at the two of them, leaning closer to Molly.

"What's he doing?" He asked, clearly worried. She didn't respond. Bender slowly turned around to face Andy.

"You know something man?" Andy said lowly. "If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you." Bender paused and then raised his hand, pointing his middle finger down.

"Can you hear this?" He asked, before slowly rotating his hand so he was giving Andrew the finger. "Want me to turn it up?" Molly smirked. Brian had gone over the railing at this point as Andy stepped closer to John and rested a hand on their shoulders.

"Hey, look fellas-" The two of them simultaneously smacked his hand away. Brian gulped but backed off as Andy walked past him. "I don't, I don't like my parents either!" He said to Bender who was still glaring at Andrew's back. "I don't get along with them, I mean their idea of, you know, parental compassion is, just, you know, wacko, you know-"

"Dork." Bender said, raising his hand. Molly turned herself around and stepped off the railing, standing near Claire but closer to Brian, worried Bender would do something.

"Yeah?" Brian asked.

"You are a parents wet dream, okay?" Bender roughly slapped Brian's arm and the boy staggered and fell onto the table next to Claire's, watching Bender walk towards Andy to continue arguing.

"Well, that's the problem." Brian exclaimed and Bender turned to him again.

"Look, I can see you're getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kind of clothes, but face it. You're a neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie." Claire frowned and nudged Molly's thigh.

"What's that?"

"Who knows." She said, never taking her eyes off of Bender.

"What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?" Brian looked down and Molly went over to him, perching on a spot behind him and nudging him. He smiled sadly at her. Andy looked over at Bender.

"Why do you have to insult everybody?" He snapped, seeing Brian's entire demeanor change. Bender sighed, getting impatient.

"I'm being honest, asshole." He said slowly. "I would expect you, to know the difference."

"Yeah well, he's got a name."

"Yeah?" Bender scoffed.

"Yeah!" Andy said, then looked over at Brian. "What your name?" Molly rolled her eyes.

"Brian." He lifted his head up to look at the two of them whilst Andy nodded at Bender smugly.

"See." Bender didn't seem to care and walked over to the front of the room.

"My condolences." He said sarcastically.

"What's your name?" Claire asked bravely as he passed her table. Bender stopped and looked at her.

"What's yours?" He retorted.

"Claire." She said with a smile.

"Ca-laire?" Bender over pronounced.

"Claire." She said more stiffly. "It's a family name."

"Oh," Bender nodded. "It's a fat girl's name."

"Bender." Molly warned and he looked up at her as Claire rolled her eyes, trying not to look offended.

"Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome." Bender said.

"I'm not fat." Claire replied quickly.

"Well not at present," Bender replied, "but I can see you really pushing maximum density." Claire bit the inside of her cheek. Molly hopped off the table and stood behind her, glaring at John.

"Would you quit it?" She snapped and Bender merely glanced at her, too caught up in what he was saying to care that he was hurting Claire's feelings.

"See, I don't know if you know this. But there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people who were born to be fat, and there's fat people that were once thin they became fat." Claire stiffened. "So when you look at 'em, you can sorta see that thin person inside." She looked away. No one in the room moved. "See you're gonna get married," Bender went on, "you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then, uh," he made a strange noise and puffed his cheeks, imitating someone blowing up and getting bigger. Molly sneered and Claire gave him the finger, making her a little proud. Bender just smirked. "Oh," he sounded surprised. "An obscene finger gesture from such a pristine girl."

"I'm not that pristine." Claire said. Bender didn't say anything at first, but leant down, placing his hands on the table, and moved towards Claire. Molly held onto the back of her chair and watched him through careful eyes.

"Are you a virgin?" He asked quietly. Brian shuffled uncomfortably behind Molly and even Andy looked worried. Allison just peaked out from her bangs every so often.

"John." Molly warned him again. He glanced up at her this time and she wondered if he would ever be nice to someone. "Stop."

"I'll bet you," he looked down at Claire, who was trying to keep it together, "a million dollars, that you are." Claire's eye twitched but she couldn't look away. John had been right from the beginning, you just couldn't ignore him. "Let's end the suspense." He said. "It is gonna be a...white wedding?" Putting on a Billy Idol inspired voice.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Claire snapped, clearly not wanting to be apart of this anymore.

"Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth?" John pressed, making her close her mouth. "Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to god your parents don't walk in." From across the room, Allison looked away, not liking the stare John was giving Claire.

"Do you want me to puke?" Claire said in a quiet voice. That only seemed to egg him on however. Molly glared at Bender, her hands shaking on Claire's seat.

"Would you cut it out already?" She grumbled. Bender then snapped his head up to her.

"What about you?" He asked. Brian's eyes widened behind Molly as she stood very still. "Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned," Andy was fuming a few tables back and trying to keep himself calm, but he couldn't help but look over at Allison as Bender spoke. He didn't know why, but he couldn't take his eyes away. Brian was just staring at Molly the entire time. "Calvin's in a ball on the front seat, past eleven on a school night." Molly swallowed slightly and Bender grinned triumphantly.

"Leave 'em alone." Andy's voice was strong and Molly felt Claire let out a breath she had been holding in, rubbing her shoulder as Bender refused to look away from her eyes. He smiled internally at the intense look Brian was giving him from over Molly's shoulder, the geek suddenly gaining some courage. When Bender didn't move, Andy stood up and slowly walked over to him. "I said, leave them alone." Bender looked at him.

"You gonna make me?" He asked. Andrew nodded.

"Yeah." Molly kept rubbing Claire's shaking shoulder and leant back on her heels in relief. She snuck a nod at Andy, thanking him, and he returned it. Bender stepped onto the chair in front of him, walked over the table and stepped down to stand nose to nose with Andy. Brian sat in between them, worried, as Molly moved to sit beside Claire.

"You and how many of your friends?" Bender mocked, but Andy didn't' back down.

"Just me." He said. "Just you and me. Two hits, me hitting you and you hitting the floor." Bender laughed at him. "Anytime you're ready pal." Bender then reached up to tap Andy's cheek but wasn't expecting the jock to grab his arm, twist it behind his back and shove him down to the ground, pinning his arms back and pushing his face to the floor. Claire gasped and Brian stood up, moving away from them.

"Andy!" Molly said but he ignored her, calmly keeping Bender still.

"I don't wanna get into this with you, man." Bender stated simply after a few seconds of struggling. Andy then jumped up, pushing Bender down and moved a few metres away from him, still spry on his feet and ready for a fight.

"Why not?" He asked. Bender slowly got up and walked past him towards the statue nearly Allison's able. The girl shifted uncomfortably.

"Because I'd kill you." He said. Andy scoffed. "It's real simple. I'd kill you, and your fucking parents would sue me, and it'd be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother." The girls just stared in shock, as did Brian, but Andrew didn't seem that bothered. If anything, he looked amused.

"Chicken shit." He said. There was a click from the back of the room and they all turned to see Bender casually holding a flip knife that he had pulled from his pocket. Andy gulped. Molly stood up and moved to stand next to him.

"Don't be an idiot." She said, to Bender not Andy, and the boy cocked his head before stabbing the knife into the chair beside him and straightening up. Brian and Claire jumped in their spots at the sound of metal hitting wood.

"Let's end this, right now." Andy challenged. Molly stared at him.

"Shut up, Clarke." She breathed and he suddenly felt nervous, but kept on a brave face.

"You don't talk to them." He ordered, pointing between Claire and Molly, both girls watching John cautiously. He just locked eyes with Molly once again and didn't look away. That set Andrew off. "You don't look at them!" Allison reached over and grabbed the knife, yanking it from the chair. No one noticed. "You don't even think about them! You understand me?" Bender just raised his eyebrows in defeat.

"I'm trying to help them."

"How?" Molly asked. John didn't reply.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four - Big Bri's House**

Things began to finally calm down properly an hour later. Claire and Andy were back at the front, not looking at each other. Andy felt good for sticking up for her, and Molly, but it didn't mean they were suddenly good friends. Even though the two of them were popular, and both hung out with just as popular people, during school hours they rarely spoke. Sometimes at parties Andy would drunkenly come up to one of Claire's friends and try to hit on them, making her roll her eyes and think he was just like any other guy at school. But she had seen him differently now, he was more strong willed and intelligent, he could face off against John Bender and come out unscathed, she wanted to applaud him. Andy had seen Claire differently too. Usually she was so caught up in the weekly gossip or too busy skipping class to go shopping to care about anything else, but he saw how weak and timid she could be. She was still only 17, not even an adult, and that had been proven the moment Bender swaggered in that morning.

Bender himself was sat at Molly's table, much to her annoyance and was reading through her songbook, flipping the pages every few minutes, indicating to her that he was actually reading what she had written. She watched him curiously as he mouthed the words in his head, smiling or laughing to himself every so often.

"Didn't know I was writing comedies." She said. Bender carried on reading. "What's so funny?"

"They're so, stereotypical." He said. Molly clenched her jaw.

"They are not!"

"You're writing about teen angst and romance, of course it's stereotypical." He said, giving her a look. "Where's that sense of independence and bitchiness we all know and love, huh?"

"Fuck you, burner." Bender beamed at her.

"There she is." Molly blinked and turned to Brian, hoping to get an intelligent response from someone for once. He had been fiddling with his paper and pen, still trying to think of something to write about.

"Don't bother." Molly said, catching his attention. "It's a waste of time. You don't need to explain who you are to anyone." Brian smiled.

"What else is there to do?" He asked. Bender snorted.

"Nothing your cherry ears couldn't handle."

"Cherry? What does that even mean?" Brian asked and Molly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. I thought they had moved past this now, but apparently not.

"It means you're a vir-" Bender was interrupted by the door opening and he sat up immediately, but was happy to see it was just the school's janitor, Carl, walking in with his bin and mop, a radio strapped to the side blaring some Cyndi Lauper. He casually surveyed the room and walked up the slope to the main library office, doing a double take when he noticed one of the kids. "Hey Brian, how you doing?" Everyone turned to look at Johnson, who sunk in his seat and looked away.

"Your Dad work here?" Bender joked and Molly flicked his arm. Carl carried on emptying the bins and chewing his gum, taking no notice of Bender, which was hard to do. Brian made a face behind Bender's back, making Molly and Andrew smile. He was getting braver. "Uh, Carl?" Bender called. Carl looked up and sighed.

"What?" He asked with a bored tone.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure?" Carl seemed intrigued now and that just fueled Bender's fire.

"How does one become a janitor?" Carl smirked at him and shook his head, amused by the question and walked up to the railing at the top of the slope, raising his eyebrows.

"You wanna be a janitor?" He asked curiously. Bender smiled.

"No, I just wanna know how one _becomes_ a janitor." He explained. "Because, Andrew here," Bender pointed at him and Andy turned to look at him in surprise, "is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts." Andrew could have punched him. Claire almost giggled and even Molly was biting back a smile, which Bender saw from the corner of his eye, making him feel pretty good about himself. Carl simply gave Andy, who at this point was rather embarrassed, a look.

"Oh really?" Carl asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Andy couldn't look at him. "You guys think that I'm just some untouchable peasant"? Carl held his hands up in surrender. "Maybe so, but dragging a broom around after shit heads like you over the last eight years has taught me a few things." Allison was smiling widely at the back and Bender had on his biggest smirk yet. Molly just smiled at him, knowing he didn't really mean any harm, other than to annoy Andrew again. But with Carl in the room, he couldn't touch him. Unless he wanted another 3 years in detention with Vernon. "I look through your letters," Carl continued, "look through your lockers," That made Bender's head snap up to look at him, worry written all over his face. Molly frowned at him. What was his deal? "I listen to your conversations, you don't know that, but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends." He paused and then looked up. "By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast." As he left with a grin, everyone groaned, Brian even changed his watch. But Bender was beaming once again. Molly assumed the large amount of respect for Carl that Bender had had just increased even further.

At 11:30 am, Vernon grabbed his blazer and headed out of the office. Inside the library, Bender had returned to his seat, allowing Molly to continue her song writing, before wrapping his scarf around his head so his hair wouldn't get into his eyes. He then began whistling 'The Colonel Bogey March' to himself. Eventually however, Molly joined in, then Brian and finally Claire and Andy. The kids were nodding along to themselves and tapping the desk in time to the tune, and Allison struggled to get a proper whistle out in time, but Vernon had already barged in. Everyone stopped, but Bender carried on, whistling another tune. Molly hid her smile behind her brown hair. It was Beethoven's 5th. Vernon looked less than impressed.

"Alright girls." He said, looking over each of the kids. "That's thirty minutes for lunch."

"Here?" Molly said in disbelief.

"Here." Vernon confirmed and she grunted.

"Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir." Andrew piped up.

"Well I don't care what you think, Andrew." He said rudely. Andrew flinched and looked away, embarrassed.

"Uh, Dick?" Molly looked up see Bender raising his hand, but the moment Vernon stared at him, his eyes brimming with pure anger, Bender held them up in apologises. "Excuse me, Rich," he corrected himself, "will milk be made available to us?"

"We're extremely thirsty, sir." Andrew agreed. Claire sat a little straighter in her seat and smiled at Vernon.

"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." She said, Molly seeing the glint of a lie in her face. The corner of her mouth turned up as Vernon continued on looking bored.

"I've seen her dehydrate sir," Molly said, "It's pretty gross." She shared a wicked smile with Claire.

"Relax," Bender said, pushing his chair back and beginning to stand, "I'll get it."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Vernon shouted, pointing at his desk. Bender slowly did as he was told and sat back down. "Grab some wood there, bub." Vernon spat. "What, do you think I was born yesterday? Think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" Bender just sadly nodded in agreement and Molly heard Brian snicker behind her. Vernon brought his attention back to the front. "You." He pointed at Andy before looking at the others, avoiding Bender at all costs. Andy then started to motion at both Claire and Molly, being happy with either one accompanying him. Molly and Claire both looked at Vernon sweetly, but he ignored them and pointed at Allison, who wasn't looking at any of them. "And you." When Allison didn't move, Vernon took a step forward. "Hey!" He called out, her eyes flickered to the front. "What's her name? Wake her, wake her up. Hey!" Allison swiveled round in her seat and glared at Vernon who looked completely unfazed. "Come on, on your feet missy, lets go! This is no rest home." Allison grabbed her bag and hurried to stand up. "There's a soft drinks machine in the teacher's lounge, lets go!"

Andy and Allison walked down the winding halls of Shermer High School for a good five minutes before Andy plucked up the courage to actually talk to her. He had wanted too for hours, for some reason unknown to him, but since arguing with John is all he had been doing, there hadn't be a right time to introduce himself. He clapped his hands together, hating the uncomfortable silence between the two of them, and turned to look at her. She was slightly looking down, so her hair covered her pale face, the only thing Andy could see was her heavily lined brown eyes and her thin, pink lips. He tried to think of something, anything to say to her.

"So, what's your poison?" He asked, knowing that talking about alcohol had always been a good conversation starter in his experience. But Allison didn't reply. He looked at her again, wondering if she understood the question. "What do you drink?" He asked. Still no reply. He looked forward again and sighed. "Okay, forget I asked." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and carried on walking. Allison looked him up and down cautiously.

"Vodka." Andrew turned quickly, startled by the sound of her voice, but frowned.

"Vodka?" He smiled. That was the last thing he expected to hear. "When do you drink vodka?"

"Whenever." Allison said, scooting up alongside him and eventually overtaking him with a spring in her step. Andy couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"A lot?"

" _Tons_." She said, lifting her head up so her hair fell back slightly.

"Is that why you're here today?" He asked, genuinely curious. Allison didn't say anything. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" She swung round to face him and he stopped dead in the centre of the hallway, shocked at her outburst. Andy backed up slowly, not knowing what to tell her. He didn't want to be honest, he would look like a total jerk if he was honest. "Um, I'm here," his voice shaky as his back hit the wall of the hallway, "today because, uh, because my...coach and my father don't want me to blow my ride." Allison raised an eyebrow at him. He knew she didn't believe him, but he couldn't stop now. "See, I get treated differently because, uh, coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my old man." He paused. "I'm not a winner because I wanna be one. I'm a winner because I got strength, and speed, kinda like a racehorse. It's about how involved I am with what's happening to me."

"Yeah?" Allison asked. Andy nodded. "That's very, interesting." She said blankly. Andrew swallowed. "Now, why don't you tell me why you're really in here?" Andy let out a breath and pushed away from the wall, shaking his head.

"Forget it."

In the library, Bender was staring at Molly. She was stood next to Claire at the statue, leaning against it and folding her arms over her chest whilst looking around the room, completely bored. She wished Vernon had picked her to go with Andy, she needed to walk around somewhere other than the stupid library. She was starting to feel trapped. She turned her head so she was looking at Brian and Bender, both sitting next to each other, Bender on the desk and Brian on the railing, hugging his knees. Bender blinked and looked down at the book in his lap, trying to not to make it too obvious that he had been staring, especially the fact he had been staring at her exposed neck and wondering what it would be like to touch it, kiss it, bite it... "Claire?" Bender perked up, catching her attention. "Do you wanna see a picture of a guy with elephantitis of the nuts?" Claire grimaced. "It's pretty tasty." Bender promised her and Molly rolled her eyes but humoured him with a smile.

"No thank you." Claire said, turning away again to face Molly.

"How do you think he rides a bike?" Bender asked, genuine curiosity laced in his voice. Brian laughed but Claire just looked at her nails, not wanting to hear anymore. "Oh, Claire? Would you ever consider dating a guy like this?"

"Can't you just leave me alone?" She whined.

"I mean what if he had a great personality, was a good dancer, had a cool car...although you'd probably have to ride in the back seat because his nuts would ride shotgun." Brian snorted loudly and covered his mouth as Molly laughed along with him. Bender grinned and watched Molly through his dark lashes. Claire gave up and turned away from the boys completely, almost blocking Molly's view of them. Benders smile vanished.

"You know what I wish I was doing?" She asked Molly, who shrugged and looked at her, trying to ignore Benders gaze.

"Oh, watch what you say." Bender warned. "Brian here, is a cherry." Brian scoffed.

"A cherry? What is that, why do you keep calling me that?" He insisted, the girls ignoring their bickering.

"What would you rather be doing?" Molly asked.

"I wish I was on a plane, to France." Claire sighed, imagining the Eiffel Tower and all the beautiful clothes shops. Molly nodded.

"I'd wanna go somewhere like England, or Ireland. My parents came from there." Claire smiled.

"Really? My Dad' sIrish too." The two laughed at the coincidence whilst Bender tore his gaze away and looked up at Brian who was turning a little red.

"I'm not a cherry." Brian insisted and Bender just looked unconvinced.

"When have you ever gotten laid?" He asked.

"I've laid lots of times!" Brian said.

"Name one." Bender said. Brian hesitated.

"She's lives in Canada, I met her at Niagara Falls. You wouldn't know her"

"Ever laid anyone around here?" Brian panicked as his voice was a little louder than before and he motioned at the girls before telling him to be quiet. That got Benders attention very quickly.

"Oh, you and Claire, did it?" He said, trying to act surprised and pretend that something like that would ever happen. Claire turned at the sound of her name and frowned.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, Molly stepping forward and sat on the edge of the table Bender was on.

"Uh, nothing, nothing. Let's just drop it okay," Brian said looking back at Bender, "we'll talk about it later."

"No, drop what? What are you talking about?" Claire insisted. Molly gave the boys a suspicious look.

"You got something to hide?" She teased Brian but he looked away, ashamed.

"Well, Brian was just telling me that in addition to the number of girls in the Niagara Falls area, that presently you and he are riding the hobby horse." Claire's face dropped and she stared at Brian in shock.

"You little pig!" She cried and Brian nearly fell off the banister.

"No, I'm not!" He exclaimed, desperately trying to make Molly believe him just as much as Claire. "John said I was a cherry and I said I wasn't!" He looked at Molly and saw her looking unimpressed. God, did she really think he was lying about this? "That's it! That's all I said!" Bender frowned, enjoying the situation he had created.

"Then, what were you motioning to Claire for?" He asked, feigning innocence.

"You know, I don't appreciate this very much, Brian." Claire said simply.

"He is lying!" Brian said, pointing an accusing finger at Bender who just looked startled.

"Oh, you weren't motioning to Claire? Were you talking about Molly then? Are you two doing it?" He insisted. Molly kicked his foot, realising what he was doing and he raised a challenging brow at her. She made a face and looked at Brian sympathetically.

"Brian-" She began but he cut her off instantly.

"You know he's lying right?" Brian looked at Claire desperately but she just looked confused now. He sighed and looked at the floor.

"Were you, or were you not, motioning to them?" Bender asked one more time and Brian had enough.

"Yeah, but it was only-" He stopped, glancing up at Molly before sighing. "It was only because I didn't want them to know that I was a virgin, okay?" Bender actually looked shocked that he would admit it and Brian scoffed. "Well, excuse me for being a virgin, I'm sorry." He spat.

"Why didn't you want us to know that you were a virgin?" Claire asked with a smile, sitting beside Molly, putting even more distance between her and Bender. His lip curled up at her but he ignored it.

"Because it's personal business! It's my own, personal private business." Brian defend himself.

"Well Brian," Bender said, "It doesn't sound like you're doing any business." Molly side eyed him and then smiled up at Brian sweetly.

"I think it's fine for a guy to be a virgin." She said. Bender's head had never whipped round so fast. Brian sat up, a visible glow on his face.

"Really?" He asked. Molly glanced at Bender, looking at how annoyed he was that his little plan to embarrass Brian in front of her had failed, and she nodded.

"I think so too." Claire said. "There's nothing wrong with it."

"If anything, it's kind of sweet. It means he's new to everything and that makes it exciting." Molly added. Brian started to smile but tried to hide it, not wanting to look too smug at what the girls were saying. "You can teach him stuff, show him what he might or might not like." Benders jaw clenched. Brian sneered at him and then leant down to cover his beaming smile with his knee, feeling triumphant. Molly grinned and then walked over to her table, wanting to get this song finished before she had to eat with the others. Molly sunk into her chair, propped her boots onto the table and chewed on her pen, wondering what the next line should be.

 _Can't stay at home, can't stay at school_

 _Old folks say_

She sighed, that's all she had so far. She tapped her temple with the pen.

"Old folks say…"

"Ya poor little fool." She jumped as Bender stood over her.

"What?"

"It rhymes, doesn't it?" He said, sitting across from her. Molly didn't say anything. "My grandparents said I was a fool all the time for acting out. It fits."

"You read this song?" Molly asked.

"I read all your songs." Bender said. "They're cliche, like I said." Molly rolled her eyes.

"That bad, huh?"

"I never said they were bad." She glanced up at him and he was looking right back at her. Why was he suddenly being so friendly with her? He would antagonise Claire, embarrass Brian and irritate Andy. But with her? She didn't get it. She watched him take his denim jacket off roughly and throw it to his table, snorting as it slumped over onto the floor. Molly fidgeted in her seat.

"Why you gotta pick on Brian?" She asked after a few minutes. Bender didn't look at her.

"Why not?"

"Bender." She said impatiently, but he acted as if he didn't care.

"He's a dweeb." He said nonchalantly. "He asks for it."

"So because you're a punk you're asking for Vernon to pick on you?" That struck a nerve and Molly felt kind of powerful as Bender stared her down.

"I never asked for that asshole to waste his time on me." He snarled.

"But why not? You're a delinquent, you act out, therefore because he's clearly the authoritative figure out of the two of you, you're basically asking for those detentions." Bender looked away, just like when Andy insulted him, and when Vernon was yelling at him. That's when Molly could tell he was genuinely hurt. Because turning away meant that they couldn't see the pain in his eyes.

"Guess I'd better start being a parent's wet dream too." Bender joked, standing up and kicking the chair away. Molly watched him sadly and was about to call his name when Andy and Allison returned with drinks, setting them down at the front table and quickly returning to their seats. Molly reached over and Andy handed a coke to her before doing the same to Claire as she returned to her seat. Brian was already at his table again and grabbing his lunch as Molly unwrapped her sandwich, but was disrupted by Benders loud voice across from her.

"What's in there?" He was talking to Claire, closely watching her unwrap her lunch bag.

"Guess." She said and looked down to see Bender was the only person to not have any food with him. "Where's your lunch?" She asked. Molly watched as Bender's eyes flickered to hers before returning to Claire.

"You're wearing it." He said. Andy scoffed and Claire looked disgusted.

"You're nauseating." She said, setting her lunch up. Bender just smirked, tilting his head to not so subtly look at Molly. Then, he grabbed one of the remaining cokes from the table and threw it to Allison, who graciously caught it and slammed it down.

"You feeling okay?" Molly asked Brian in an attempt to ignore Bender. He shrugged, not being able to meet her eyes. "Look, you don't need to be embarrassed about it." She said quietly, referring to the incident earlier.

"I'm not." Brian said quickly looking at her with wide eyes, only to look away again. "It's just, I wish you hadn't found out because John forced it out of me."

"How else would you have wanted me to find out?" Molly teased. Brian blinked at her she clamped her mouth shut, realising what she implied. "Sorry, I-" She stumbled over her words and flushed pink. As she tried to think of something clever to say, Brian couldn't help but let a big smile spread across his face. She was cute when she was nervous. Opposite them, John was burning a hole into Brian's head. How come he got to make her blush but all he did was make her dislike him? John huffed and walked over to Brian, sitting down next to him and making him jump.

"What are we having?" Bender asked, folding his hands onto the table after placing the final coke down in front of Brian. Molly leant back and grabbed her sandwich, deciding this is the only time she'd get to eat it. Brian reluctantly turned his attention to Bender.

"Uh, it's just your standard regular lunch, I guess." He said. Bender nodded once and rummaged through the bag until he pulled out a yellow flask with a smirk.

"Milk?" He asked.

Brian shook his head. "Soup." Bender went back into the bag and Brian did too, only to have his hand slapped away. Bender then pulled out a small carton of juice and was reading the label with a tiny smile on his face, wondering if Mr and Mrs Johnson still thought of Brian as a child, when Brian spoke up. "That's apple juice."

"I _can_ read." Bender said in a monotonal voice. Brian gulped. Bender then took out the remaining piece of food, a perfectly wrapped sandwich and folded his arms again. "Well Brian, this is a very nutritious lunch." He said. "All the food groups are represented. Did your mom marry Mr Rogers?"

"Uh, no, Mr Johnson." Brian said cluelessly and Molly couldn't help but laugh with her mouth full. Bender dragged his eyes over her and smiled coyly. He was in the lead again. Claire and Andy, still both eating their food, laughed too. That's when everyone heard a crunching sound behind them and they all turned to look at Allison, who was pouring sugar sticks onto pieces of buttered bread before crumbling Captain Crunch cereal onto it. She mushed the pieces together and brought it to her mouth to take a large bite, before noticing everyone watching her. She just bit into the sandwich and glared at them. Everyone looked away slowly, not knowing how else to react to that. Bender then got up out of his seat and went into the middle of the room.

"Here's my impression, of life, at Big Bri's house." He announced, getting everyone's attention. Brian watched him cautiously and Molly put down the sandwich wrapper to sit closer to him, giving him a look, but watching Bender anyway. He cupped his hand beside his mouth and smiled widely. "Son!" He then turned to the side and pressed his fore fingers into his cheeks to represent dimples. "Yeah Dad?" Bender kept switching back and forth for each person and everyone started smiling at the cute scene he was creating. "How's your day, pal?" "Great Dad! How's yours?" Molly noticed Brian's smile began to falter and she wondered what his home life was really like. Clearly, Benders picture wasn't accurate. "Super! Say son, how'd you like to go fishing this weekend?" "Great Dad! But I've got homework to do…" Bender pretended to look sad and Molly realised how much he looked like a little kid doing that, with the pouty lips, big eyes and puffy cheeks. He almost looked...cute. She shook her head, no way. "That's alright son! You can do it on the boat!" "Gee!" Andrew was smiling too, until he saw the sad look on Brian's face. He glanced at Molly who was also worried. Andy frowned and watched Bender as he created a new character, Brian's mother. "Dear, isn't our son swell?" "Yes dear, isn't _life_ swell?" Bender then pretended the parents kissed, before turning to Brian slowly, his face distorted into one of disgust, and punching the air where Brian's mother would be. Brian gulped and looked away, hurt. Andrew took this opportunity to challenge Bender one more time.

"Okay. What about your family?"

"Mine?" Bender asked, getting up again, "Well that's real easy." Bender had his back turned to everyone until he returned to his original spot, but this time his face seemed longer and he wiped down his front lazily, as if he was drunk, before pointing at nothing. "Stupid, worthless, no good, goddamn, freeloading son of a bitch, retarded, big mouth, know-it-all, asshole, jerk!" He then slumped forward, crossing his arms and looked bored. "You forgot ugly, lazy and disrespectful." He then punched the air. "Shut up bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!" Bender returned to normal then, but still pointed at nothing. "What about you, Dad?" "Fuck you." "No, Dad. What about you?" "Fuck you!" "No, Dad! What about you?!" "FUCK YOU!" He then mimed his father punching him, only to recoil and flip his head back. Everyone was speechless. Molly stared at Bender and felt the urge to ask too many questions. Brian swallowed gently.

"Is that for real?" He asked and Bender fixed him with a judging glare.

"You wanna come over sometime?" He offered rudely. Andrew scoffed.

"That's bullshit." He said and Bender looked hurt. He frowned and narrowed his eyes at Andy. "It's all part of your image," he tried to explain himself confidently, "I don't believe a word of it." Bender was seething with rage, his chest rising and falling and Molly was scared he was about to explode, bringing everyone down with him.

"You don't believe me?" He said through gritted teeth.

"No." Andrew replied.

"No?" Molly heard the slight crack in Bender's voice and she winced. Brian did too, knowing what was about to happen.

"Did I stutter?" Andrew snapped. That was it for Bender he closed his mouth and walked slowly over to him, before leaning down and pulling up his white shirt sleeve, revealing a grey burn on his arm.

"You believe this?" Molly gasped quietly and looked away as Brian clenched his jaw. Claire hid behind her hair and Allison just stared at Andrew. "Huh? S'about the size of a cigar. Do I stutter?" He spat, getting right in Andy's face. "See this is what you get in my house, when you spill paint in the garage." Bender watched as Andrew flinched away from him and pulled his shirt down again before backing up away from them all. "See, I don't think, that I need to sit with you fucking dildo's anymore." He held his arms up in surrender and walked over to a small bookcase behind the statue, walking around for a second before screaming and throwing books everywhere. Everyone flinched at the noise but Molly watched with sad eyes as Bender jumper onto the book case and pulled himself up onto the railings, jumping down on the staircase loudly and sitting down, leaning his head against a bar and trying to calm himself down. Everyone silently looked at Andrew and he bit his lip.

"You shouldn't have said that." Claire whispered and he looked at her sadly.

"How would I know?" He asked. "I mean, he lies about everything anyway." Molly stood up, grabbing her book and a muffin from her bag.

"No one would have lied about that." She said before walking around the front of the room to the stairs. Brian watched her go and sat back in his chair trying to take it all in. She slowly made her way up to Bender, knowing eyes were trained on her at all times, and silently walked up the steps to his heaving back. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were screwed shut. She carefully sat behind him, crossed her legs, and placed the items down in front of her. After a few moments of nothing, she nudged the muffin towards him. Bender opened his eyes slightly and looked at it, scoffed, and then closed them again. Molly sighed and leant her back against the bar, watching him carefully.

"When things got tough with my mom, I'd go up to my room and write songs about how I felt." Molly said quietly. John didn't move, but she carried on talking, wanting to get something off of her chest. "Just, wrote them all down onto a page and I somehow made a song out of it. I did that because I knew no one would believe me any other way. My dad didn't at least. He never saw that side of her, only I did. She was stressed after the divorce, it's not an excuse, but it's why she is like she is." Molly recalled her mother screaming at her over nothing, just to get anger out. It was scary, but she let her vent and throw things and cry because she knew in the end her mother would feel better about it. Even if she didn't. "I'm not saying our situation is the same, I'd never compare what you have to what I have. But, I've been hit too." She was surprised her voice was carrying on the way it was, calm and firm without a hint of sadness to it. "Only a couple of times, but enough to make it stick with me. And painful enough for me to write about." She noticed John's shoulder blades move under his shirt. "You know how I dealt with it?" She asked. "I did what I do best. I wrote songs, lyrics, chords, everything. And I used that pain to my advantage and eventually it didn't hurt as much anymore. Because I used it for something better than what it was." John's head turned slightly towards her and she heard him breath, slowly and a lot calmer than before. "You do that too, don't you?" He stiffened. "You use humor and violence and acting out to show people what you're going through. But they never believe you, right?" Molly bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder, seeing the others watch her from below. Claire had tears in her eyes, Andrew looked guilty as hell, Allison looked sad and hid behind her bangs, and Brian looked ready to run up there and hug her. She smiled at him then turned to John, moving closer to him and ignoring his grunts of protest. "I get it, you're not used to people caring. Well, suck it up. Because people do care. You just need to let it out without hurting them first. Then, then they'll believe you." John eventually looked down at her and she slid beside him, letting her legs dangle over the balcony.

"Why didn't you do what everyone else does?" He asked gruffly.

"What does everyone else do?"

"Ask if I'm alright." His voice was quieter now, weaker. Molly leant into him a little more, ignoring his body going stiff at her touch. "That's what sad people want to hear."

"But that's not what _you_ want to hear." She said. "I don't pity you." John stared at her and she realised how brown his eyes were. A deep chocolate compared to her icy blue ones. "I don't, because I know it won't make a difference. But hopefully, this will." She then reached behind her and handed him her notebook. "Go to page 61." She said. "That's the song I want you to read."

"Sing it for me." It was barely a whisper and Molly blinked up at him, not sure if she heard him right. But John lifted his arms arway from the railing, no longer looking tense. And he watched her. "Sing it for me." He repeated. "I want to know what it's really supposed to sound like, when it's finished." Molly took a deep breath and smiled.

"You're not easy, are you?" She joked and John smiled.

"Easy's no fun." He handed her back the book and she flipped to the page. It was the final page in the book and was the neatest, surprisingly, and John looked over it as Molly recited the words before tapping the banister in order to remember the tune.

"It really isn't the same without a guitar." She said softly. John paused and suddenly jumped to his feet. He reached down a hand for Molly to take, which she did cautiously, and once she was on her feet John pulled her down the stairs, taking the book with him by putting it into his trouser back pocket, and down to their desks. He grabbed his denim jacket and threw her leather one towards her, which she caught. "John, what are you-"

"Who wants to go on a field trip?" Bender asked with a huge grin.


	5. Chapter 5

To listen to the song Molly wrote/played, go here: watch?v=CudDTzXk8Lc (I know this song isn't from the 80's, however it fits the image I had for this scene, soft and slow and romantic, and shows the extent of Molly's softer music side, which comes out mostly around Brian whereas her rebellious/rock side appears around John, however the two do get to see both sides eventually.) Please enjoy!

Bender somehow timed sneaking out of the library with Vernon leaving his office perfectly. Molly patiently stood behind him as he checked the hallway for any sign of their Principal, and once he gestured for them to follow him, the rest of the gang followed suit. John led them down multiple corridors, and Molly realised just how big their school was. Typically it was filled to the brim with students but now it was just the six of them and she felt tiny compared to the long, winding hallways and almost endless ceilings. She stuck to John's side like glue, with Claire and Brian close by. Andy, the least excited about leaving the library, was dragging his feet behind them with Allison a few paces to his left. She kept a steady eye on him and he felt her gaze on the back of his head as Bender led them down some stairs so they were surrounded by lockers.

"How do you know where Vernon went?" Claire asked.

"I don't." John said. That made Brian bite his lip and look over his shoulder, worried that he was going to catch a glimpse of grey suit and even greyer hair.

"Well, then how do you know when he'll be back?" She asked again. Bender rolled his eyes and looked at Molly impatiently. "You trust me, right?"

"Do I have a choice?" She joked and he grinned before turning back to the front, glancing at Claire.

"Being bad feels pretty good, huh?" He teased, knowing Claire was the last person, apart from Brian, to ever do something 'bad', and walked ahead of her. Molly smiled. Claire quickly followed her, not wanting to be on her own or accidentally wander off.

"Do you really trust him?" She whispered once Bender's back was turned. Molly thought about it. In a way, Bender was the least trustworthy of the bunch. He could easily run off and leave them there to try and find their way back, all because he wanted to get something from his locker. But on the other hand, she knew Bender was more sensitive than he led on, showing her a side she had never expected to see. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she was also too curious to ignore his suggestion to leave the library.

"I trust him enough." She said simply. That didn't seem enough for Claire, but she also didn't question Molly any further. Brian slowed down slightly beside them so he could talk to Andy.

"What's the point in going to Bender's locker?" He asked.

"Beats me." Andrew said with a bored tone.

"This is so stupid!" Brian said, still glancing over at the end of the hallway. "Why would we risk getting caught?"

"I don't know." Brian looked at him for a moment. He couldn't comprehend why Andrew was just going along with what Bender said, seeing as he clearly hated the guy's guts. Maybe it was because he felt guilty. Or because he was bored shitless sitting in that library. Either excuse worked.

"So what are we doing?" Brian asked. Andy looked up at him.

"You ask me one more question and I'm beating the shit out of you." He said and moved further away from him. Brian was stunned but just shook his head and carried on, no longer in the mood to try and validate his point.

When they finally got to Bender's locker, he quickly unlocked it and the second the door opened, the gang was shocked to see a tiny guillotine drop down from the top of the locker to the bottom, cutting off the end of a grubby, once cherry red, converse. Andrew turned up his nose at the rest of the locker, seeing dirty gloves, candy wrappers, shoes and scraps of paper littering the inside of it.

"You're such a slob." He muttered.

"My maid's on vacation." Bender replied, leaning on his top toes to the top part of the locker, grabbing a large brown, paper bag and unwrapping it. Repeating this two more times, Bender revealed a cylinder wrapped bag of weed. Molly couldn't help but smirk just as Brian's eyes widened in shock. He sniffed the air, just to make sure, and stared at Bender as if he just grew another head.

"It's drugs!" He said, completely baffled. Bender ignored him, stuffed the bags inside his locker and slammed it shut, putting the weed in his pocket and walking away.

"Screw that Bender!" Andy said sharply at his retreating back. "Put it back!" Allison looked just as shocked as he did, whereas Molly was excited. She looked at Brian who was already pleading with her not to follow him, but she was already hot on Bender's heels. Claire rushed off too, leaving the boys and Allison standing in disbelief.

"The boy has marijuana." Brian breathed. "That was _marijuana_!" Andy groaned and shoved past him, no longer wanting to deal with Brian's incessant complaining.

"Shut up." He grunted. With only Allison left to talk to, brian pointed at her.

"Do you approve of this?!" But when he got no answer, all he could do was sigh and follow the others with his tail between his legs. Allison didn't react, she just walked up to Bender's locker and grabbed the lock from it, stuffing it into her bag and walking off.

"We'll cross through the lab and then we'll double back." Bender said to Andrew, seeing as the jock had taken it upon himself to walk next to him and start asking questions about getting back without running head first into Vernon, wherever he was.

"You'd better be right." Andy said, walking alongside Bender as they turned left. "If Vernon cuts us off, it's your fault, asshole." Behind them, Claire, Brian and Molly stood watching them.

"What did he say? Where are we going?" Brian tugged on Molly's jacket but she just nodded her head towards the boys and dragged him behind her. Alison just followed them silently. Bender led the group to a T junction in the halls, barely glancing to his left before he saw Vernon's retreating back walking away from them. The entire group froze for a few seconds before Bender took off down the hall, the others quickly in pursuit, other than Allison, knowing that Vernon was too slow to catch them, who just scuffed her feet as she walked. They were running left and right, skidding to stops and bumping into each other, blindly trying to find their way back to the library without Vernon catching them. The Principle had been casually walking down the halls whistling to himself, having no idea that every corner he turned, the kids were right behind him. At one point, getting too close to comfort with their teacher, the kids had to skid to a stop in the middle of the hall and desperately try not to fall over as the scrambled back the way they came. Bender accidentally grabbed Molly's waist as he did and pulled her into him, the two sharing a look before running away. Brian's face morphed into a scowl as he watched the scene unfold and he grunted as he sprinted after them, getting ahead of Bender and even going so far as to knock into his shoulder as he started to even overtake Andy.

After running down a flight of stairs, Bender skidded to a stop in one of the locker hallways and panted. "Wait, hold it!" Everyone stopped and turned to him. "We-we have to go through the cafeteria." He pointed in the direction he meant but Andrew just shook his head.

"No, the activities hall!"

"Look man, you don't know what you're talking about-"

"No you don't know what you're talking about!" Allison squeaked at the two of them, hinting that they needed to hurry up and make a decision. Molly just looked hopelessly at Bender as she stood beside Brian, Claire at her left side trying to catch her breath. "Now we're through listening to you." Andy said, "Now we're going this way. You can go where you want, mughead." He then continued running in the direction the group intended. Claire rushed after him and Brian was about to do the same, trying to pull Molly along with him. She looked at Bender and shrugged as she followed the other three. Bender watched her go as Allison stamped her feet and stared at him, not knowing what else to do. Bender just shook his head and the two ran off.

Two more flights of stairs, and thankfully no more run ins with Vernon, the kids were running at top speed down the hall but were met with the steel cage door of the activities hall, that had been locked the night before. Bender grabbed the bars and shook them as Andy stopped at his side, panting, and feeling like an idiot for leading them all to a dead end. "Shit." He breathed.

"Great idea, jack off." Bender hissed. Andrew turned on him.

"Hey, fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!" Molly shouted. "Why didn't you listen to John?" She glared. Andy's mouth snapped shut and he looked away, embarrassed. Brian was leaning against the bars and just staring at the activities hall in despair.

"We're dead." He stated simply. Bender, still panting and gripping the bars, thought for a long moment. Then he looked down at Molly's distracted and flustered face. He wasn't finished yet.

"No," He said, "Just me." Molly's head snapped towards him.

"What are you talking about?" She asked but Bender ignored her, taking out his dope and grabbing Brian's jumper.

"Get back to the library, and keep your unit off of it!" He snapped as Bender thrust the weed into Brian's trousers before shoving his way through the group and running back down the hallway, belting out a song that none of the others knew. _He was distracting Vernon for them._ Molly felt adrenaline rush through her and she was about to run after him but Claire grabbed her hand.

"We have to go!" She pleaded. Molly knew she was right but watched John run away. Andrew then lead the group back through the winding hallways, no longer seeing Vernon, assuming he was already trying to find a screaming John, and back towards the library.

John had started ripping things off the walls, leaving a trail for Vernon to follow, and continued yelling at the top of his lungs. "BEFORE THE DAY I DIE! HERE'S FIVE THINGS I WANNA RIDE!" John made his way into the gym, throwing his jacket to the ground and grabbing some left behind sneakers from the corner and a lone basketball before pretending to be in a end of the year match, acting as if the crowd was surrounding him, cheering him on, and he thrust the ball above his head. "3, 2, 1!" He yelled before dribbling the ball towards the hoop and slam dunking it in, pumping his fist up and cheering himself.

"Bender!" Vernon was red faced and foaming at the mouth by the time he found him. "Bender, BENDER! What is this, what are you doing?!" Bender grinned and started dribbling the ball between his legs.

"Hi."

"Out!" Vernon pointed at the door. "That's is, Bender. Out, it's over!" Bender flipped the ball up to his point finger and span it perfectly. For a split second, Vernon wondered why the kid never tried out for basketball, but the thought quickly left him when he saw the smug look on the punk's face.

"Don't you wanna hear my excuse?" Bender asked.

"Out!"

"Thinkin about trying out for a scholarship." Bender was setting up for another score, but Vernon stepped forward, warning him.

"Give me the ball, Bender." He said. His voice was hoarse and tired, clearly fed up of having to yell at him. Bender paused and pretended to throw the ball at him, causing Vernon to flinch. Bender stopped, smiling, but then did it again, Vernon making less of a flinch this time. Bender then bent down and gently rolled the ball over to him, kicking off his sneaker but then jumping in the air as Vernon violently kicked the ball at his feet. Bender glared, but proceeded to try and grab his jacket and shoes, only to have Vernon stand in his way. Once Bender was dressed properly, Vernon dragged him out by the scruff of his jacket collar and marched him back towards the library. Once the double doors had been shoved open, Molly looked up from where she was sat next to Brian as John walked in, hands behind his head as if he was being arrested, and his denim jacket wrapped loosely around his hips. Vernon shoved him towards his desk, roughly.

"Get your stuff." He spat and Bender huffed. "Mr Wise Guy here has taken it upon himself to go the gymnasium. I'm sorry to inform you, you're going to be without his services for the rest of the day." Molly sat up a little straighter in her seat, confused. Brian noticed and gulped whilst watching Bender collect his things but then sit down at his table.

"B-O-O H-O-O." He spelled out sarcastically, leaning back in his chair and looking anywhere but at Vernon.

"Everything's a big joke, huh, Bender?" Vernon said. "The false alarm you pulled Friday, false alarms are really funny, aren't they?" Bender slowly smirked. Everyone in the room looked at Bender, remembering what happened when the alarm had gone off yesterday. It had scared all of them as they had been sat in class, not expecting to then be escorted out onto the field in a rush, every teacher suddenly thinking there was a fire as they hadn't been informed of a test that morning. Molly distinctly remembered being placed behind Andrew Clarke, as they both had History together, and then later seeing Vernon yell at someone about pulling the alarm as a prank. She just had no idea it was John Bender on the opposing end of the argument. She just stared at him like everyone else, not knowing what else she could do.

"What if your home…" Vernon began, but then rethought his sentence. "What if your family...what if your _dope_ was on fire?" His eyes were bright, knowing he could have potentially struck a nerve. But from the look on John's face, that clearly wasn't true.

"Impossible, sir." He said. "It's in Johnson's underwear." Brian's eyes widened and Molly and Andrew couldn't help but laugh under their breath. Vernon's eyes narrowed at the two of them.

"Oh, you think he's funny?" He asked, standing in between their tables with his hands on his hips. "You think this is cute? You think he's bitchin, is that it?" Andrew looked down and shrugged whilst Molly kept eye contact with Vernon. She refused to look away and neither did he. "Let me tell you something." Vernon said. "Look at him." Everyone glanced in John's direction, apart from Molly, and they all watched to see his reaction. John didn't even blink, he just put his sunglasses into the front pocket of his checkered shirt. "He's a bum. You wanna see something funny? You go visit John Bender, in five years." That got a reaction. John sat up, his face clearly showing some offense and Molly clenched her jaw, Brian gulping quietly behind her. "You'll see how god damn funny he is." Vernon then looked away from Molly and walked straight towards Bender, leaving her to let out a sigh and try not to yell at him over her shoulder. She was fed up with him. Hearing every horrible thing he had to say about her, Andy, Brian, John...all of them. Why was he such a shit head? He didn't even know them…

Vernon bent down in front of John, leaning in so they were eye to eye. "What's the matter, John? You gonna cry?" He teased. John looked away in disgust, only to jump up and spin around as Vernon tried to grab his arm.

"Hey, keep your fucking hands off me!" He warned, shrugging away from Vernon and walking towards the front of the room. "I expected better manners from you, dick." John stopped beside Andrew desk and placed his sunglasses in front of him. "For better hallway vision." He slapped his shoulder, sharing a small smile with Andy, before walking past the front desk and shoving everything off of it onto the floor, ignoring Vernon's swearing. Brian stared down at the concealed drugs in his trousers and back up to John as he left the room, wondering what to do now. He had _drugs_ on in his _underwear_. What would his parents think…

"Asshole." Molly hissed and pushed her chair away from the table, grabbing her jacket and throwing it off of her shoulders as if it was burning her skin. She was furious and she wasn't sure if it was because Vernon had embarrassed Bender in front of everyone, or because he wasn't going to be around them anymore. Either way, she was angry enough to want to get out of that room. Brian watched her start to head towards the front door and he scrambled to his feet after her. He managed to catch her up just before she opened the door and he blocked her path. "What are you doing?" She asked with a tired tone.

"Are you insane?" He whisper yelled, worried Vernon might hear from wherever he had taken John. "He could come back any second!"

"So what?" Molly asked in defeat. "All he has is his words. His shitty words that don't mean a goddamn thing!" She bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't wanna be in here anymore." Molly tried for the door again but Brian grabbed the handle before she could, accidentally letting their hands collide. Neither of them moved.

"Then...let me come with you." Molly frowned. "I just, I'd rather you didn't get in trouble by yourself." He said.

"Just sit down already." Andrew called out from his table, wondering what was going on. "Bender's already in trouble as it is, he doesn't need you two rescuing his dumb ass."

"Who said I was rescuing him?" Molly asked and pushed past Brian to open the door, checking either end of the corridor before looking at him. "You coming?" Brian nodded hesitantly and followed her into the hallway, trying to readjust the weed in his trousers as he went. Molly led Brian down multiple hallways before either said a word to each other. Brian wasn't really sure why he was doing this. A while ago he was questioning everyone following Bender without a second thought, yet here he was doing just that. But this time it was just Molly. No John, no Allison, no Andy and no Claire. He liked it better this way, just the two of them. Although, at that moment, he didn't seem to be making the best conversational partner.

"Where do you think he went?" Brian asked.

"Who?"

"Vernon, with John. Where do you think he went?"

"I don't know." She said honestly. "I don't know what happens to the kids that get detention within detention. This is my first time after hours."

"Yeah, me too. You know, the only time I've been here after 3, is w-when my friend, his name's Simon he plays cello, his band practises after school sometimes and he asks me to sit and wait for him in the cafeteria. It's really boring and to be honest he's shit at cello but I get free biscuits out of it so you know all and all its-"

"Ssh." Molly placed a finger over her lips and peered round a hallway. Brian held his breath, but nothing happened. Molly eventually grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as she walked down a smaller hallway, with green walls instead of white, which was labelled 'MUSIC DEPARTMENT'. Brian frowned.

"What are we doing in here?" Molly turned round and smiled and Brian could have sworn he felt his heart stop beating. In reality if that had happened he would have been on the floor, stone dead, but seeing her smile like that made everything around him stop too.

"You'll see." Molly seemed to be searching for something, a door Brian soon found out, and the two peeked inside to make sure it was clear before Molly ushered Brian inside and quietly closed the door. Brian stared around the room in wonder, taking in the small, blue walls and black carpets, guitars and cases and drum sticks lining the walls whilst records and their cases were hanging from hooks from each end of the door and around the room, showing off albums from Billy Idol, Joan Jett and even The Rolling Stones. They were all there. And he never even knew this room existed.

"What is this?" He asked, amazed and Molly laughed, heading over to a shiny, black piano in the corner of the room.

"It's the music departments treasure." She said, sitting at the stool. "This is basically my second home. Or my actual home, when I want it to be." Molly opened the top of the keyboard and Brian watched her dainty fingers glide smoothly across the keys, not pressing down hard enough to make a sound.

"You come here a lot?" He asked, looking through the vinyl cases. Molly shrugged.

"I don't have much else here. No friends, they all dropped out. No clubs or groups. Just music." She admitted. She pressed her finger down, playing a chord that made Brian jump. "You wanna hear something?" She asked, looking up at him.

"I...you'd show me?" He asked and she nodded with another smile.

"Yeah, it's nothing special it's just...I like the piano. Not as aggressive as a guitar but just as smooth as one." Molly shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."

"No, I get it." Brian said and stood beside the piano. "I don't play, though. I don't know anything about music."

Molly didn't say anything for a while, and just sat there, but eventually she looked at him and smiled, scooting up the piano stool. "Come on," She said, patting the space beside her. "Sit down." Brian hesitated and she rolled her eyes. "I don't bite." Brian smiled at that, and gently took a seat next to her. Molly positioned her fingers on the keys and softly pressed down, testing them out first before finally letting the chords overtake her. Brian wasn't used to piano music. He was used to the typical rock n roll vibe this generation had become obsessed with recently, so hearing the soft notes of the piano hit his ears was surprising, yet he couldn't stop listening. The song was gentle and soothing, something very different to what Molly seemed to be. She was like Bender, fast and fun and keen for causing trouble. Yet it seemed like a whole new person sat in front of him, not looking up from the keys as she allowed her fingers to spread across them like they were born to do so. The song went on for what felt like hours, yet it was only a minute or so long, and Brian kept sneaking glances at Molly's face. Taking in her carved cheekbones, short, cropped hair with its messy, long bangs and her dark eyes that were lined with dark liner. Her full lips were pursed in concentration and he couldn't help but study every detail of her face, never wanting to forget it. If this moment lasted forever, he would have been okay with it.

Molly lifted her fingers from the keys and rested them on her thighs. Brian looked away. "Why did you show me that?" He asked quietly. Molly ran her tongue over her bottom lip.

"I didn't plan to." She said. "I wanted to come here with or without you. I play music to forget how angry I am, or to let the anger out. Either way, it helps. You just happened to be interested enough to follow me. And to listen." She looked at him through her dark lashes.

"You didn't sing for Bender when he asked you too." Brian wanted to hit himself for that as Molly flinched.

"I don't know John." She said.

"You don't know _me_." Brian said and Molly turned to him.

"Why did you come with me?"

"I-I'm not...I don't know." Brian said, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink. "I didn't want you to, like, get caught and dragged off like John. And, you seemed upset. Because of John, or Vernon, or maybe something else, I don't really know-"

"Thank you." Molly interrupted. "I haven't been able to play music for the past few days. Mom's orders." She said it as a joke, but Brian could tell by her wavering voice that it wasn't really funny. "That's why I'm always here. So I can play without her yelling at me. That's what she does best. Shit on everything I love." Molly then slid off the stool and walked over to the other corner, grabbing a guitar still wrapped in a black case and stood up straight before looking at Brian. "Come on. I'm taking this with me for once." Brian frowned.

"What-"

"It's mine. I'm not stealing it. Mom never likes me having it at home, but it's mine, so why shouldn't I?" Brian nodded in agreement, not knowing what else to say. "Now, come on. Vernon's gonna realise we're gone eventually." _But I want to stay here_ , Brian thought.

"Will you play me something else?" He asked quickly, just as Molly reached for the handle. She seemed startled by his comment and he shut his mouth. "I just meant, you're good. Like, really good. I liked it."

"Sure." She said. "Sure. I'll play for you." They smiled at each other, and left.


	6. Chapter 6

Bender had been dragged to a closet down the hall and across from where the library was, meaning if he wanted to somehow sneak back in, he'd have to walk right in front of Vernon's office. That is, if he could even get out of the locked door first. Vernon stood in front of him, leaning against the door, as John sat on a table with stacked chairs propped up behind him. His knee was tucked into his chest and he had wrapped his hands around his knee cap to keep it upright. Since he had been taken out of the library he had refused to acknowledge Vernon's existence, and that seemed to piss him off even more.

"That's the last time, Bender." Vernon said, pointing an accusing finger at the kid. "That's the last time you ever make me look bad in front of those kids, do you hear me?" Bender still wouldn't look at him, so he carried on talking. "I make $31,000 a year, and I've got a home, and I'm not about to throw it away on some punk like you." Bender's face wasn't it's usual cocky self with a smirk or a hint of mischief in his eye. This time, he actually looked sad. He wasn't hinting at any tears or bursts of rage, just an expressionless gaze at the wall opposite him. That didn't seem to stop Richard Vernon from antagonising him, however. "But someday, someday, when you're outta here, and you've forgotten all about this place, and they've forgotten all about you, and you're wrapped up in your own pathetic life, I'm gonna be there." Bender's eyes widened and he slowly looked up at Vernon with an open mouth. Vernon grinned. Finally, he struck a nerve. "That's right. And I'm gonna kick the living shit out of you man, I'm gonna knock your dick in the dirt."

Bender remembered what his father had once said to him. _I'm going to kick the living shit out of you if you don't shut up, you pathetic little weasel!_ He remembered the fear he felt as his father, standing at 6'4 and weighing almost twice the amount John weighed, staring down at him with cold, dead eyes with a beer bottle in his hand and a cigar in his grubby mouth. John hated him. He hated Vernon. He hated everything. But the second Vernon had said those words it made him remember the day he had taken a beaten like the coward he was, and then have to go to school the next morning with sunglasses covering his blackened eye and almost broken nose, his lip threatening to split open at any moment. He was scared. And John Bender hated being scared most of all. So he watched Vernon put his hands on his hips, as if he couldn't look like more of a prick, and bit back his nerves.

"You threatening me?" The same words he had stupidly said to his father. The exact ones that he knew would get him into trouble. But it was like he couldn't stop himself.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Vernon asked, his voice calm and collected this time. That made Bender tense up even more. He looked away again. "You think anybody's gonna believe you?"

" _No one would believe you. You're just a kid! A stupid kid, with a big mouth, who thinks he's all that, when in reality he's nothing but a piece of shit on the bottom of my shoe."_

"You think anybody is gonna take your word over mine?" Vernon asked.

" _Do you really think, people are gonna believe you? Or me? An adult, a man of authority and respect. No, no they won't even listen to you."_

"I'm a man of respect around here, they love me, I'm a swell guy. You're a lying sack of shit, and everybody knows it." Vernon pointed at him one more time, just as John's face contorted into fear again. He was replaying the scene of his father over, and over, and over again. Like a broken record player. He couldn't escape it. Not at home, not at school. It was endless. No matter what he did, he would always be beaten down by people above him. The adults. The people that were taken seriously, not some teenager who acted out to get attention. Hoping that someday, someone would see through his antics and mischief and realize he just wanted someone to care about him. When Bender didn't react, Vernon had had enough. "Oh, okay. Hey, tough guy!" Bender looked up, startled, as Vernon began taking off his jacket and threw it over a chair. "Get on your feet, pal!" He shouted. "Let's find out how tough you are! I wanna know, right now, how tough you are! Come on!"

Bender's mouth was hanging open, no longer knowing what to do or what to say to his teacher. Vernon had never gotten this angry before. Never. "Give me the first punch! Let's go." He bent down to get closer to Bender and closed his eyes, pointing at his chin. "Come on, just take the first shot. Please, I'm begging you, just take a shot. Come on!" Bender tried to lean away from him, staring at his face, not wanting to be any closer to him. "Just take one shot, that's all I need, just one swing." Vernon stayed still for a while, but eventually opened his eyes, being met with John's scared face. He nodded, knowing he had won, and stood up. He then pretended to take a swing and John flinched, naturally at this point. Vernon scoffed. "That's what I thought. You're a gutless turd." Bender swallowed and Vernon picked up his jacket, opened the door, and left, locking it behind him. John sat there trying to calm down whilst also desperately trying not to let the tears that were forming in his eyes fall down his cheeks. He wouldn't cry, not this time. So he started looking around the room, hoping to find something to break the door open so he wouldn't be trapped in this tiny closet a moment longer. Then he looked above him and saw the ceiling tile that wasn't perfectly straight like the others. He smiled.

In the library, Molly was sat on John's desk with her back to the group, silently tuning her guitar, as Claire and Andy spoke to each other in hushed tones. They were trying to figure out how to buy some time before they could leave, which still wasn't for at least another 4 hours, whilst Allison sat at the back biting her nails again. Brian was sat at his desk eating his lunch when he could have sworn he heard something creaking above him. He looked at the ceiling but shook it off when nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"When did you learn how to play?" Andrew asked, turning round to look at Molly curiously. He realised that he knew little about her and figured this was the perfect chance to ask questions.

"My 7th birthday." She said, not really listening to him. She strum the guitar a few times and frowned when it still didn't sound right. She twisted the knobs at the end, trying to find the right sound, as Brian once again looked up at the ceiling. He must be going crazy, but he definitely heard something that time. Like...talking.

"Hey guys, is it just me or does anyone else hear-"

"OH SHIT!" Screaming could be heard from the other side of the library and everyone turned to see something fall from one of the ceiling tiles, crashing down at the top of the staircase as pieces of the ceiling came with it. They all then heard Vernon yell in panic from outside, clearly hearing the noise and everyone watched in disbelief as Bender casually walked down the stairs, covered in dust and bits of tile, whilst brushing his hair from his face. At the sight of everyone staring at him slack jawed, he stopped.

"I forgot my pencil." He said and walked over to his desk where Molly was sat, giving her a smile, and grabbing the pencil from his desk, only to freeze as he heard Vernon's voice getting louder behind the double doors.

"What in god's name is going on in here?" Vernon demanded as he walked in, tucking the front of his shirt back into his trousers. Claire, Andy, Brian and Molly all shrugged at the same time, having sat back down in their seats. "What was that ruckus?"

"Uh, what ruckus?" Andy asked, feigning innocence.

"I was just in my office, and I heard a ruckus!" Vernon said, pointing at the door. Brian swallowed and sat up in his chair, putting his hand up.

"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?"

"Watch your tongue young man, watch it." Vernon warned, just as Bender sat up underneath Molly's table and banged his head, groaning in pain. Trying to cover up the noise, Andy banged his palms against his desk a few times, earning two knocks from Bender in response. Allison then joined in and slammed her feet down from where they resting on the table. Vernon looked at them all, confusion etched onto his face. "What is this?" Andrew imitated the sound of a zip and smiled. "What is that? What, what is _that_?" Bender shook his head, trying to get the throbbing pain out of his temple and looked forward, only to be met with Molly's slightly opened legs. His eyes bulged out of his head. She had been wearing a short, black leather skirt all day and Bender hadn't paid much attention until now as he had a clear view of her pale thighs and dark underwear. Like he was in a trance, he started to edge his head forward, not realising his hair was tickling her knees. She bit her lip above him, trying to push him away with her hands. "What is that noise?" Vernon tried again. Andy licked his lips.

"Uh, what noise?" Claire then smiled politely at the Principle.

"Really sir, there wasn't any noise." That's when Molly squeaked as Benders fingers touched her outer thighs, pushing her skirt up higher. Vernon snapped his head towards her, glaring. She bit her lip, trying to conceal a moan that she was desperately trying not to let out. _I'm not enjoying this, I'm not enjoying this, I'm NOT enjoying this,_ she repeated in her head.

Brian noticed out of the corner of his eye that she was fidgeting and even dared to look under the desk, only to see exactly what John was doing. His face flared up and Vernon noticed, trying to follow his eyeline. "What's going on in here?" He asked again and was about to walk right over to Molly, who was looking like a deer caught in the headlights, when John's warm breath reached the middle of her thighs and she completely froze up, taking in a long, loud breath of air as she quickly squeezed his head with her thighs, hurting him and making him groan again. Molly desperately tried to cover it up with loud coughing and thankfully Claire got the hint, quickly following her as Andy and Brian, even Allison, all did the same. John jumped back under the desk and tried to hold down her ankles as Molly started kicking him, crying out in pain. Once they had calmed down, Molly smiled at Vernon.

"That noise? Was that the noise you were talking about?" Vernon looked less than impressed.

"No, it wasn't. That was not the noise I was talking about." Everyone looked down, looking rather guilty, as Vernon folded his arms. Molly had clamped her legs shut and was gripping the table as John sat beneath her with a sour expression on his face. "Now I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will." Allison giggled at Vernon's words, knowing what had happened, and he stared at her. "You make book on that, missy." She smiled and put her hands in her lap. He then turned back to Molly. "And you. I will not be made a fool of!" Vernon pointed at each of them in turn, before walking out of the room, only to reveal to everybody a toilet seat cover hanging out the back of his pants. The moment the doors were closed, Andrew, Allison, Claire and Brian lost it. They were all loudly laughing at him as Molly pushed her chair back to let Bender out, punching his shoulder violently. He kneeled up, now being the perfect height to be eye to eye with her, and smiled innocently.

"It was an accident." He said. Molly shook her head.

"Creep." She hissed. Claire turned to look at them, as did Andy. Brian just watched Bender stare at Molly for a moment, clearly wanting to say something else, but instead stood up and walked over to him. As he dd so, Molly grabbed her guitar, notebook and pen before marching off to the back of the room, sitting at one of the small tables and started tuning again.

"So Ahab. Can I have all my doobage?" Bender asked once she was gone. At first, Brian hesitated. He didn't think Bender deserved it after what he just did to Molly, seeing as she was still clearly embarrassed. He looked at Benders annoyed face and sighed before unzipping his pants and handing the dope to him. Bender took it without another word and walked off to the back of the library.

"Yo waistoid. You're not gonna blaze up in here!" Andy called after him, but Bender took no notice. Instead he walked to where Molly was and sat next to her, grabbing his match box and some cigarette paper from one of his many pockets. She ignored him, finally having tuned the guitar to her liking, and strumming her fingers against the strings gently. Bender watched her out of the corner of his eye as he rolled some weed into the paper, licking across the top before sealing it and putting it into his mouth. He stopped to watch her properly, noticing the way her eyes flickered closed every few seconds to enjoy the sound of the guitar.

"You gonna play for me now?" He asked, his voice muffled by the joint between his lips. Molly didn't look at him. "You were going to earlier." He pointed out. "What changed your mind?"

"You." Molly said flatly. "That stunt you pulled, under the table? Did you really think I'd be into that?"

"I don't know." Bender shrugged nonchalantly. He gazed at her as he struck a match against the match box. "Are you?" She didn't say anything, just opened her notebook and started flicking through the pages. John smiled. That was when Claire and Brian came over, Claire sitting on the other side of John and Brian sitting near Molly. Andrew walked past them, stopping behind Bender and snatching the joint from his mouth just after Bender lit it. Andy then threw Bender's sunglasses at Brian, who caught them easily, before jogging upstairs and locking himself in one of the faculty rooms. Bender shrugged again. "Alright then." He rolled a couple more joints, lighting one for himself and inhaling, letting the all to familiar, calm feeling wash over him, before letting Brian have the rest. Brian was hesitant, but inhaled some smoke before spluttering it out. Claire smiled slightly and even Bender looked amused, so Brian took a longer drag and gently puffed it out. Suddenly, he felt his body start to relax and he giggled after a while, not really knowing why. Bender then handed a joint to Claire just as Brian placed Bender's sunglasses on his face, laughing at himself as Claire inhaled her first drag, coughing just like Brian had done before trying again, this time keeping it in and letting the drugs overtake her system.

"Got another?" Bender stopped laughing at Claire and Brian to look at Molly, who was now standing up with her guitar at her side, notebook under her arm and her pen tucked behind her ear. Bender didn't break eye contact as he handed her a perfectly rolled joint, wrapping the rest of his stash up and shoving it into his back pocket. He lit the end for her, flicking the match on the roof of his mouth and letting the friction cause a flame. An old trick one of his stoner buddies had taught him when he was 16.

She brought it to her lips, bending down so they were much closer, before inhaling and standing back up. She nodded in thanks and headed over to a quieter part of the library on some steps near the far end of the room. Bender couldn't take his eyes off of her as she settled down, joint between her lips, and started strumming. At first it didn't sound like a song, but then she began humming something and that caught Bender's interest.

"Chicks, cannot hold their smoke, that's what is is!" Brian piped up, putting on a high pitched voice and pointing directly at Bender, making him chuckle. Claire giggled beside him and sat back, taking another long drag.

"Do you know, how popular I am?" Claire asked, grinning to herself. "I am SO popular, everybody loves me so much at this school." She brought the joint to her lips as Bender shook his head.

"Poor baby." He teased, knowing full well that not that many people liked the popular crowd, or Claire for that matter, at all. Bender took the joint from her hand and started puffing away, just as Brian held his hand up to him.

"Five?" He asked, his voice hoarse, as if he had been smoking for years. Bender smiled, his eyes lazy and slightly drooping from the effect the weed was having on him, and reached over to high five him. However the force behind it was a little too strong and he managed to push Brian's hand back to his forehead, hitting him, and making him fall backwards off the chair, completely setting Claire off into a fit of giggles. Above them, Andy had finished off his joint in a matter of minutes, the room he was in now completely filled with smoke. He stepped out, letting the smoke surround him like a cloud. He had put some music on over the stereo system and as the beat kicked in, he started bobbing his head along, taking a few more drags. He threw away the remaining bit of paper and grinned, letting the loud music get into his head, and he started to rip off his jacket and run across the landing of the library. He was shouting and jumping and doing cartwheels, earning a whistle from Brian. Claire started clapping him, egging him on to dance more, and Bender just watched the jock in amazement, not knowing he would have such a reaction to his dope. Once Andy had made a full lap around the top of the library, he ran back into the room he came out of, slammed the door shut, and screamed so loud the glass shattered in the frame.

Allison, who had been watching the scene unfold, looked away sadly and then stood up, bag slung over her shoulder, and made her way to where Molly was. She tried to stay away from her, hiding in the shadows so she could just hear her voice, but not close enough to alert the girl of her presence. Molly had finished her joint too, stabbing it out on the wall beside her, and holding the guitar more comfortably in her lap. Then she started singing. Allison didn't listen to much music other than fast rock, wanting to dance around her room wildly with her arms in the air with no care in the world. But that wasn't how Molly sang. Her voice was quiet and soft, and Allison had to get very close to hear what she was singing over the guitar.

 _I would like to leave this city_

 _This old town don't smell too pretty and_

 _I can feel the warning signs running around my mind_

 _And when I leave this planet, you know I'd stay but I just can't stand it and_

 _I can feel the warning signs running around my mind_

Bender was listening from a few feet away, completely enthralled in her voice, and eventually stood up to walk closer to her. Molly's eyes were closed at this point, and she didn't realise the audience she had attracted. Claire and Brian were sitting on the closest seats to her, swaying softly to the beat. Even Andrew had jumped down from the staircase to lean against it and listen.

 _So here I go I'm still scratching around in the same old hole_

 _My body feels young but my mind is very old_

 _So what do you say?_

 _You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway_

 _You're half the world away_

 _You're half the world away_

Molly's eyes flickered open and she jumped at the sight of Bender sat in front of her, almost dropping the guitar. Claire giggled and Molly then realised the others looking at her. She blushed but smiled.

"Guess you heard that, huh?" She joked, which made Allison smile from behind the pillar she was leaning on. Andrew walked over to her.

"I didn't know you could sing like that." He said what was everyone's mind. Molly just shrugged and put the guitar down.

"I don't _usually_ sing like that." She said.

"Then what do you sing?" Claire asked.

"My band and I play rock n roll." She said, beaming at the memory of playing a small gig last weekend. The crowd were going wild for her, singing along to the covers and completely losing themselves in their original songs.

"You're in a band?" Brian asked, amazed that someone so young could achieve that much

"Yeah. Foster and the Dropouts." Molly told him, crossing one leg over the other and stretching them out.

"What's that mean?" Bender piped up. Molly licked her lips.

"I'm Foster." She explained. "It's my family's name, and the other members are all dropouts. They left school when they were younger because they thought it was a waste of time."

"But school's important!" Brian protested, his geekier side coming out.

"They didn't feel like they belonged here. I don't either, but my mom would flip if I dropped out."

"What if you got expelled?" Bender asked, a hint of deviance in his voice.

"I wouldn't get expelled. I'm a good girl." Molly said, but smirked at the last few words. Bender did the same. After a few minutes of silence, Brian and Andrew walked off to another set of chairs to chat, Claire collected her purse from the front of the room to touch up her makeup whilst Bender sat beside her. Molly had taken one of the seats next to Claire and was fiddling with her jacket sleeve. It had ripped slightly at her last gig and she was pulling at some of the threads. She heard Brian laugh loudly from across the room and she smiled, watching him roll over the chairs as Andy chuckled at him.

"You like him don't you." Claire said and Molly quickly looked up to see her grinning. Molly scoffed but laughed, showing she wasn't annoyed at her statement.

"I am not." She said.

"As if! Besides, he likes you."

"Hardly." Molly rolled her eyes. Bender watched the two from his spot as he riffled through Claire's purse, pulling every item out and inspecting it. He tried to ignore their conversation but he couldn't. He felt his chest rise and fall faster and faster and his face was heating up. John Bender was jealous. _Jesus_ , he thought, _I'm going soft_.

"He does too! Have you seen the way he looks at you? It's like a lost puppy trying to find his owner, it's cute!" Claire said, grinning triumphantly as Brian looked over at Molly, only to quickly turn back once he saw Claire noticed him. "Why don't you ask him out?"

"Yeah, Foster." Bender spoke up. "Why don't you?" Molly clenched her jaw. He was testing her patience again. Going from nice, quiet John to arrogant, annoying Bender in only a matter of seconds.

"I'm not looking for anything serious right now." She said honestly. "I just want to focus on getting out of school and getting out of Shermer. Then maybe I'll find someone."

"A geeky someone?" Claire teased and Molly flicked her leg, earning a yelp in protest. The two girls laughed and chatted to each other about something other than boys, clothes to Benders disgust, whilst Andrew and Brian laughed again.

"No, no, no really man, you got a middle name?" Andy asked. Brian sniffed and tried to control his laughter whilst sitting up.

"Yeah, yeah I guess. Uh-"

"Your middle name is Ralph!" Both boys looked behind them to see Allison holding her bag closely to her chest behind the statue. "As in puke." She mocked and began walking over to them. "Your birthday is March 12th, You're 5'9, and a half. You weigh 130 pounds, and your social security number is...049380913." She sat beside Brian, ignoring the guys shocked faces, and grinned to herself.

"Wow." Andy breathed out. "Are you psychic?"

"No." Allison said. Brian leant forward.

"Well then do you mind telling me how you know all this about me?" He asked, looking slightly concerned. Allison reached into her jumper and pulled out something small, square and leather.

"I stole your wallet." Andrew almost burst out laughing.

"Give it to me." Brian insisted.

"No." Allison smiled.

"Give it!" Brian insisted this time, holding his hand out. Allison's smile dropped but she threw the wallet at him anyway. Brian scowled at her but quickly put the wallet on the side closest to Andrew, worried she would try and steal it again.

"This is great," Brian faked a laugh. "You're a thief too, huh?"

"I'm not a thief!" Allison protested.

"Multi-talented." Brian muttered.

"What's there to steal?" She asked. "Two bucks and a beaver shot?" Andy couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"A what?" He laughed as Brian went pink.

"He's got a nudie picture in there, I saw it." Allison said and Brian wanted to get up and leave. But Andy was too invested to let him back out now. He leaned forward, his face almost splitting from smiling so hard.

"Alright, lets see it!" From the other side of the room, Bender was brushing his teeth with Claire's eyebrow brush, not realising Molly's look of disgust.

"You know you're gonna have to throw that away, right?" She asked and Claire nodded sadly. She was flicking through Bender's wallet, surprised to see so many pictures of girls. Not bad ones, just headshots. Some were even polaroids.

"Are all of these your girlfriends?" Claire asked curiously. John didn't look at her, just continued messing with her makeup.

"Some of 'em." He said. Molly and Claire exchanged looks.

"What about the others?" Claire asked.

"Well," John said as he unscrewed some perfume. "Some I consider to be my girlfriends, and some I just consider." He sprayed the scent into the air and sniffed it, wincing as the smell was too strong for his liking.

"Consider what?" Claire pressed. Molly watched John closely, wondering if all of this was true. She wondered if any of those girls had seen him like she had earlier on the stairs, sad and lonely. She wondered if any of them had seen other parts of him, angry, happy, sleepy...euphoric. She blocked out the last one, she didn't need to think about John Bender sleeping with other girls. _Other girls._

"Whether or not I wanna hang out with them." He said simply.

"You don't believe in just one guy one girl?" Claire asked. Molly kind of wished she would stop being so nosey all the time, but the curious part of her wanted to know the answer as well.

"Do you?" He frowned. Claire shrugged.

"Yeah. It's the way it should be." She said. Claire had been a romantic since she was a child, wishing her handsome prince would whisk her away from her castle and save her. Now she was older, and had experienced the reality of teenage boys, that was still just a dream she wished could come true. Molly looked at her hands and put her jacket to one side, not longer feeling like pulling at the loose strings.

"What about you?" It took her a moment to realise the question was directed at her.

"What?" Molly asked, slightly dazed.

"What do you believe?" Claire repeated. "One guy, one girl? Or one guy, lots of girls. Or even the other way around?" Molly tried to think about her answer carefully. She had only had a few relationships in the past, most were flings, just for fun, but a couple had been serious. They had both ended with her breaking the guy's heart, not wanting to be with them anymore as she just couldn't see a future with any of them. That was her thing. If she couldn't imagine them sticking around forever, she thought it was pointless. That was what love was, right? Forever?

"I guess, one guy one girl." She replied. "It hasn't worked out for me, but I suppose it's what I believe." Claire nodded, thinking it was a fair answer and happy that someone finally agreed with her on something.

"Not for me." John said. Molly glanced at him. He wasn't looking at her this time and that made her feel kind of sad.

"Why not?" Claire asked. So full of questions. John started to look annoyed, as if he was backed into a corner, and threw down a lipstick he had picked up.

"How come you got all this shit in your purse?" He said with a huff. Claire saw through his evasion.

"How come you have so many girlfriends?" John looked at her, his hair falling into his eyes. He then flickered over to Molly and the two shared a long look before John turned his attention back to Claire.

"I asked you first." He said. Claire pursed her lips.

"I don't know," she said honestly, "I guess I just don't throw anything away."

John smirked. "Neither do I."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven - If you love someone it's okay**

"You know, this is the worst fake ID I have ever seen." Andy said, glancing over the small, laminated piece of card. "You know you made yourself 68?" Brian snorted and read it over his shoulder.

"I know, I know. I goofed it."

"What do you need a fake ID for?" Andy asked.

"So I can vote." Brian said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Andrew rolled his eyes but kept on looking through his wallet.

"You wanna see what's in my bag?" Allison blurted out. Both boys looked at her, then each other, before holding their hands up simultaneously and simply saying "no" and going back to what they were doing. Allison stared at them, completely offended, before taking her bag and turning it upside down, dumping the contents on the chair between her and Brian. The boys were stunned to see an array of items. Paper, pencils, a scarf, Benders switchblade, a comb, two pairs of pastel blue underwear, some cash, socks, a lock and a large amount of tampons.

"Holy shit." Andy said, leaning over Brian to look at everything. "What is that stuff?"

"Do you always carry this much shit in your bag?" Brian asked. Allison nodded.

"Yeah. I always carry this much _shit_ in my bag." She flipped her hair from her eyes. "You never know when you may have to jam." Brian carefully picked up a tampon that had fallen into his lap and placed it down with the others.

"Are you gonna be like, a shopping bag lady?" He asked rather rudely. "You know like, sit in alleyways, and like talk to buildings and wear men's shoes, that kind of thing?" Allison's eyes were trained on him.

"I'll do what I have to do." She said quietly.

"Why do you have to do anything?" Brian asked.

"My home life, is unsatisfying." She stated.

"So you're saying you'd subject yourself to the violent dangers, of these Chicago streets, because your home life is unsatisfying?" Brian clearly didn't understand and Allison was getting more agitated by the second. _He didn't understand._

"I don't have to run away and live in the street." She protested. "I can run away and-and I can go to the ocean, I can go to the country, I can go to the mountains! I could go to Israel, Africa, Afghanistan!" She was so passionate about the subject of running away. She just wanted to be somewhere she felt comfortable, like she belonged there. Anyway but Shermer, Illinois. Anywhere was better than here, nowhere. Brian looked at Allison's tear filled eyes and merely rolled over towards Andy, who had been sat quietly in the corner with Brian's wallet still in his hand.

"Andy, you wanna get in on this?" He asked. Andrew looked between the two of them, confused. He clearly hadn't been listening. "Alison here says she wants to run away because her home life is unsatisfying." Andy looked up at her, blinking, and thought for a moment.

"Well, everyone's home life is unsatisfying." He said quietly, not wanting to upset her anymore. She just stared into his eyes, trying not to freak out over the fact Brian was basically mocking her. Andy stared right back. "If it wasn't, people would live with their parents forever."

"Yeah yeah, I understand." Brian said. "But I think her's goes beyond what, you know, guys like you and me consider _normal_ unsatisfying." Andy fidgeted in his seat, feeling Allison's gaze start to unsettle him, especially since Brian wasn't doing a very good job of being nice towards her. He was a dick when he was high.

"Never mind. Forget it. Everything's cool." Allison said sharply, getting both boys attention again. She started packing all of her things into her bag as Andy leant forward, curious as to why she'd react like that.

"What's the deal?" He asked sincerely but she aggressively shook her head at him.

"No. There's no deal, _sporto_." Andy flinched. "Forget it, and leave me alone."

"Wait a minute. You're carrying all that crap around in your purse, either you really wanna run away. Or you want people to think you wanna run away." Andrew said, starting to get annoyed himself at her tone. He never meant any harm, he was genuinely concerned. But this girl was hell bent on pulling people in and pushing them out the moment they started to get somewhere.

"Eat. Shit." Allison spat and rushed off to the desk across from them, leaving her bag behind and leaning over the counter, her head down and her hair cascading over it. She didn't want any of them to see her upset. She was too embarrassed already.

"The girl is an island in herself." Brian said before rifling through her things that were still dumped out next to him. Andrew stood up and threw Brian's Wallet at him before storming off to talk to Allison, fed up with him once again. He quietly stood opposite her, leaning against the desk and watching as she brought her head up to glare at him. Her eyes were red and brimming with tears and his heart clenched in his chest. He did this, partially. He made this girl feel bad. But there was something he was missing, and for some reason he was determined to find out what it was.

"Hi." He said, almost ashamed that he had to come up here and talk to her after how he acted. "You wanna talk?"

"No." Allison replied almost instantly.

"Why not?" He asked. After a long pause, Allison moved closer.

"Go away." Andy shrugged at her.

"Where do you want me to go?"

"Go, away!" The two stared each other down, Andy's jaw clenching in anger whilst Allison's lip started to quiver. Eventually, Andrew pushed himself away from the desk and turned his back on her, slowly walking away to sit on his own. That's when a spark of courage ran through Allison's veins and she got up to walk after him, holding the desk for support as if at any moment she would tumble to the floor. "You have problems!" She said loudly and Andy spun around to face her, face already pink from how angry he was starting to get.

"Oh, I have problems?" He retorted.

"You do everything everybody tells you to do, THAT is a problem!" Allison cried, flinging her arm out dramatically. Andrew nodded, grinding his teeth.

"Okay fine, but I didn't dump my purse out on the couch and invite people into my problems!" Allison's mouth fell open, no longer knowing how else to respond to him. Andy took a few steps forward, closing the tension filled gap between them. "Did I?" He asked. As he stood there, watching her expression change slowly from anger to fear to sadness, his own face began to soften. "So what's wrong?" His voice was quieter this time, more sincere, and Allison almost told him everything. Almost. "What is it? Is it bad?" Allison looked away and Andy let out a sigh. "Real bad? Parents?" At that she looked back at him, but he was already looking down at his feet and leaning his back on the desk. After a moment of contemplation, Andrew gazed up at her again.

"Yeah." Her voice cracked as she nodded. Andy's heart was pounding.

"What do they do to you?" He whispered.

"They ignore me." Allison breathed out. Andrew could only nod whilst trying to blink back tears.

"Yeah. Yeah."

Bender and Molly were upstairs, Bender leaning against a pillar and Molly lying on her side looking up at him. They had moved once Claire decided to touch up her makeup and Brian had gone off to finish his lunch, suddenly feeling really hungry. Molly watched as Allison and Andy spoke to one another and she tried to read their lips, curious as to what they were saying.

"What do you think they're talking about?" She asked. Bender barely glanced in their direction before turning his attention back to his box of matches.

"Sex, maybe." He joked, earning a look fro Molly. "What? Sporto's clearly into the crazies."

"Don't call her that." Molly insisted, flicking his ankle. "She's not crazy."

"You would know?" He smirked. Molly just shook her head. She watched Andy lean against the desk and continuously gaze at Allison and she wondered if he had known anything about her until today. Who she was, her name, her classes. Probably not. None of them really knew each other until then. She had seen Claire around the school with her posse of friends, and sometimes saw Brian and his friends in the computer lab. She had once spoken to Andy during History, but that was only to ask if he had a spare pencil. One of her band mates knew some of Bender's friends and she had occasionally seen them hang around the bar they played at most weekends, and she had seen Allison sat on the bleachers drawing or just sat there, watching everyone. A part of her felt bad for never getting to know her, seeing as she didn't seem to have any other friends, Molly could have taken her under her wing. But she was so used to being a loner that making friends hadn't been in her mind since Freshman year.

"Where did Vernon put you, anyway?" Molly asked. Bender didn't reply. "You crawled through the ceiling," she laughed, still surprised that Vernon hadn't seen the missing tile yet, "it must have been pretty bad."

"Some closet." He said. "It was cramped, I needed to stretch my legs."

"So go out the front door?"

"It was locked." Molly propped herself up on elbows.

"Vernon locked the door?" She asked. Bender looked up at her.

"Is there a problem with an adult abusing his power over his students?" He joked. Molly didn't laugh but instead scoffed at him and lied down properly, resting one arm on her stomach whilst putting the other behind her head. Bender watched her cross one leg over the other and wished he didn't have the urge to run his fingers absentmindedly over her thighs.

"He's such a...you know that he...ugh!" She kicked her heel against the carpet and Bender tried to hide his smile behind his shaggy hair. "He can't really think he can get away with that, can he? I mean, what teacher does that to a kid. Just locks them in a closet for 4 hours. Prick."

"Does it look like I'm in a closet?" Bender asked. Molly looked over at him. "No. So stop freaking." He went back to lighting matches and stubbing them out onto the pillar, leaving tiny burn marks on the crisp white paint. "Why do you keep sticking up for me, anyway?"

Molly shrugged. "It's the right thing to do?"

"They don't think it's the right thing to do." He nodded at everyone downstairs. "In fact, they'd rather watch me go down than walk out of here unscathed."

"They aren't that bad-"

"Maybe your precious Johnson isn't." Bender bit back, sarcasm dripping from his voce. "But Clarke wanted me to drop dead the moment I walked in here." Molly bit her lip.

"He's not mine." She said softly. Bender's head snapped towards her.

"Right, and Claire isn't a virgin."

"Will you stop being such an ass? For once, could you just keep your shitty opinions to yourself." She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but seeing Claire squirm under his scrutiny was still imprinted in her memory.

"Feisty." Bender replied. "Bet Bri will love that." Molly pushed herself up onto her palms and kicked out her foot to strike Benders leg, but didn't expect him to grab her ankle just before it made contact with his thigh. She gasped under her breath as the two held eye contact for a long time. Bender eventually shoved her leg to the ground, causing her to stumble onto her side. "Don't even try it."

"Or what, you gonna hit me?" Molly challenged. Something was screaming in her head to stop, to just lie back down and forget this conversation ever happened, but something about John made her want to argue back. To stand up for herself. And it scared her yet excited her all at once.

"You're boring me Foster, go back to the whole 'quiet girl in the corner' act for me, would you?" John taunted and Molly pulled herself to her knees.

"My god, you're infuriating." She scoffed. "You really think being a giant dick will get you through life? Get you a girl? A good job?"

"I don't need any of those things to be happy, you know." He bit back. "I just need to do what I gotta do, and that's that."

"And that's what, exactly? Making everyone feel like total shit for being themselves?"

"What do you care? You're just like the rest of them, too ignorant to see the real world for what it is." John leant forward and threw the match box to the side. "You're in your own little bubble of hypocrisy and you can't even see it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Molly demanded.

"You make the dweeb feel like he's nothing to you! He wants to be something but you keep pushing him away, and for what, to get to me? Well you can forget it, Foster. I'm not interested." John folded his arms and sat back as Molly's face flushed red. "Oh go ahead, yell, scream, cry, whatever. Don't bother wasting my time like Brian wastes his on you."

"Fuck you!" Molly didn't realise her hand flew out to slap him until she felt Bender's strong hand wrap around her wrist only a few inches from his cheek. Her eyes were blurry with tears but she could see that her hands were trembling and that John had a look of surprise on his face, clearly not expecting her to try and hit him. Suddenly, he dragged her forward by her arm and she gasped as she was pulled into his lap. Her other arm grabbing his shoulder to steady herself as her torso fell between his legs, resting against his chest. His gaze softened after a few quiet seconds and she noticed his adam's apple bob up and down as he gulped.

"Thought I told you not to try it." He whispered. Molly was locked onto his eyes as if she was hypnotised and could barely even blink. They were such a pretty shade of brown, almost gold under the fluorescent lighting.

"I thought I told you not to be an ass." She whispered back. Instead of getting angry, Bender smiled. The most genuine smile he had given her so far.

"Touche." His grip on her wrist loosened and he carefully pulled her closer to him. Molly didn't dare breath as his thumb hooked under her chin, stroking the soft skin, before his gaze slid down to her lips. "Did you really hate what I did under the table?" He asked. Molly paused then nodded her head.

"No." She said with a smirk at the same time and Bender's eyes brightened.

"Thought as much. I felt you trembling."

"Would you quit it?" She asked, yet her soft voice didn't match her rude words. Bender just chuckled.

"Trust me, the world would be a lot more boring if I quit it."

"My life would be easier." Molly teased and Bender gently reached out, an action that was completely foreign to him, to tuck a stray piece of hair from Molly's face behind her ear.

"I'd still find a way to bother you." He said. "I _saw_ you, remember." She rolled her eyes.

"I smoke, big deal." She replied.

"That's not what I meant." John said. Molly blinked up at him.

"Then what did you mean?" She asked him quietly, and in that moment John tried desperately not to kiss her.

"That I-"

"Please, get a room you two." They both turned to see Claire making her way up the steps, Andy, Brian and Allison close behind her. Allison gave Molly a small smile as she sat beside Bender, tucking her knees under her chin. Andrew looked slightly disgusted but didn't say a word, sitting diagonally to where Claire now was, stretching her legs and sitting up right against the pillar opposite Bender and Molly. Brian was the last to be seated, trying to hide his uncomfortable expression at the sight of Molly and John by hanging his head and sitting beside Andy. Molly quickly got up and went back to sitting next to John, not realising until a few minutes later, with Claire and Andrew talking about something she had no interest in, that Bender's knee was grazing hers.

"What would I do for a million bucks?" Andrew asked, directing the question to Claire. He thought for a moment and rubbed his forearm before smiling. "I guess I'd uh...I'd do as little as I had to." Claire rolled her eyes.

"That's boring." She said. Neither of them seemed to notice the other four kids tired expressions. Bender was staring into space, Brian was yawning, Allison was looking at her jagged nails, and Molly was almost falling asleep, her head lolling off of her outstretched palm and her eyes drooping shut every few seconds. She could kill for a bed right now, or at least a pillow to rest her head on. John's shoulder looked comfortable enough…Molly shook her head and sat up straighter, trying to hide her pink cheeks.

"Well, how else am I supposed to answer?" Andy asked. Claire laughed.

"The idea is to like search your mind for the absolute limit." She explained. "Like um...would you drive to school naked?" Andrew burst into a fit of giggles, imagining the insane, and totally extreme, situation of having to get into his old man's pick up truck and drive around without a care in the world that if anyone happened to look through his window, they'd be met with a stark naked Andrew Clarke; wrestling champion turned nudist.

"Um, uh, would I have to get out of the car?" He asked.

"Of course." Allison watched the two of them, not sure whether to join in or not. She still didn't feel all that welcome, but it's not like they were telling her to leave.

"In the Spring? Or Winter?"

"Doesn't matter. Spring."

"In the front of the school, or the back of the school?" John could imagine himself literally anywhere else but that library. His bedroom, the bleachers, the bar, christ, even Australia. He would be happier across the word than here listening to these two. But he couldn't go anywhere else, he had to stay here in this boring library. Molly was staring at him, so he stared right back.

"Either one." Brian checked his watch and sighed. Still way too long until he had to go home.

"Yes." Andrew said after a pause and Claire stared at him in shock but he shrugged.

"I'd do that." Allison spoke up, earning everyone's attention, even Bender and Molly turned to look at her. "I'll do anything sexual, and I don't need a million dollars to do it either." Claire frowned at her.

"You're lying." She stated. Molly raised her eyebrow at the two of them but Allison stood her ground.

"I already have." She said. "I've done just about everything there is, except a few things that are illegal." Andrew was smiling at her and Molly watched him through narrow eyes. What was he suddenly so happy about? Brian sat up so his back was against the railing and licked his lips, clearly trying to process what he was hearing. Bender just looked on. Allison leant forward towards Claire and smirked, her eyes filled with mischief. "I'm a nymphomaniac." She said slyly.

Claire still looked unimpressed. "Lie." She said simply, looking away. Brian stared at Allison in complete disbelief.

"Are your parents aware of this?" He asked. Allison shrugged.

"The only person I told was my shrink." She said glumly, as if ashamed to admit she saw someone. Molly suddenly got flashbacks to seeing her therapist years ago, having to sit there feeling judged and analysed just because she felt sad sometimes. It was horrible, but it did seem to help her in the long run.

"What did he do when you told him?" Andrew asked, curiously. Allison grinned.

"He nailed me." Molly snorted and Bender's eyes flickered down to her. She bit her lip. Andrew gulped and looked away whilst Brian started smiling to himself. _Pervert_ , Molly thought to herself and smirked at him. Claire on the other hand looked disgusted.

"Very nice." She drawled.

"I don't think, that from a legal standpoint, what he did can be construed as rape because I paid him." Allison said softly. That just set Claire off even more, her nose turning up and her mouth morphed into a grimace.

"He's an _adult_!" She spat.

"Yeah." Allison replied. "He's married too." Molly laughed again and Brian and Bender joined in, leaving Andrew to both look and feel uncomfortable and Claire to shudder in her seat.

"Ugh! Do you have any idea how completely _gross_ that is?" She asked.

"For the first few times-"

"First few times?!" Claire exclaimed. "You mean you did it more than once?!"

"Sure." Allison nodded.

"Are you crazy?" Claire demanded.

"Obviously she's crazy if she's screwing a shrink." Brian said as if it was obvious. Molly reached over to flick his knee.

"Stop calling her crazy. Leave her be." She said. Brian fidgeted a little under her gaze. Claire shook her head at all of them.

"Have you ever done it?" Allison asked slowly, leaning forward again to get a good look at Claire's shocked face, clearly not expecting the attention to suddenly be directed at her. Claire paused as everyone's eyes were trained on her and looked away.

"I don't even have a psychiatrist." She said.

"Have you ever done it with a normal person, is what she means." Molly explained. Claire pursed her lips and Molly could instantly tell where this was going. She looked scared, scared to admit whatever the truth was.

"Didn't we already cover this?" Claire asked Bender, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation.

"You never answered the question." He replied.

"Look, I'm not gonna discuss my private life with total strangers." Claire stated.

"It's kind of a double edged sword, isn't it?" Allison said. Molly let her legs stretch out in front of her, no longer letting them touch Bender's leg. She noticed him shift against the pillar at the loss of contact and she felt her heart speed up.

"What is?" She asked.

"Well, if you say you haven't, you're a prude. But if you say you have, you're a slut." Allison explained. Molly quickly looked away at the mention of the word slut. She hated it, hated it with everything she had, because she had been called it so many times in the past. "It's a trap." Allison continued, "you want too, and you can't. And when you do, you wish you didn't, right?"

"Wrong." Claire remarked, shaking her head.

"Or, are you a tease?" Allison questioned. Silence.

"She's a tease." Andrew said. Molly scoffed.

"Oh sure, why don't you just forget it?" Claire folded her arms with a huff.

"You're a tease and you know it, all girls are teases."

"Nice generalising there." Molly commented and Andrew gave her a look. "You don't know how many girls are teases, not for sure."

"I can make a rough guess." He said.

"You're only a tease if what she does gets you hot." Bender added in and both Claire and Molly looked up at him. He only looked back at Molly. Brian swallowed the lump in his throat across from them, watching as Molly shifted around, moving to lean on her left palm instead of her right. She was getting uncomfortable, he could tell. He didn't blame her.

"I don't do anything!" Claire snapped, having enough of all the judging.

"That's why, you're a tease." Allison grinned. Claire turned all of her attention onto her.

"Okay, well let me ask you a few questions." She said. Allison laughed at her.

"I already told you everything!" She said but Claire had already had enough.

"No. Doesn't it bother you to sleep around without being in love, I mean don't you want any respect?" Bender's head shot up and, to Brian's surprise and disappointment, so did Molly's. Neither of the really knew it, but they both had some pretty questionable histories. The two hadn't heard anyone judge somebody for sleeping around, with the exception of Molly's mother who was a little too conservative for Molly's liking.

"I don't screw to get respect, that's the difference between you and me." Allison replied.

"It's not the only difference I hope." Claire turned her nose up at her and Molly practically snarled.

"So what if people sleep around?" Molly spat at her, earning her a startled expression in return. "Who are you to judge, anyway? It's not your life."

"I'm saying what I think, there's nothing wrong with that either." Claire defended herself. "I don't see why you'd be with more than one person."

"Just face it, you're a tease." Bender said slowly, clearly bored of the conversation already.

"I'm not a tease!"

"Sure you are." He said. "Sex is your weapon, you said so yourself. You use it to get respect." Claire was baffled for a second but shook her head.

"No, I never said that, she twisted my words around!"

"What do you use it for then?" Molly asked, leaning back so her spine was against John's leg. The two felt powerful, both feeling like they had to not only defend each other, but themselves. Who cares what they did in their private time? They didn't deserve to get judged by some prim and proper little girl.

"I don't use it, period!" Claire insisted, but John was clearly only just starting to have fun with this.

"Oh are you, medically frigid or is it psychological?" He teased. Claire shook her head again, closing her eyes in order to calm herself down.

"I didn't mean it that way! You guys are putting words into my mouth!" She whined.

"Well, if you just answered the question." Bender stated.

Molly started to realise where the conversation was about to head. She shared a look with Allison as the other boys started to take an interest.

"Why don't you just answer the question?" Brian asked.

"Come on, be honest." Andy chimed in.

"It's no big deal," Bender said slyly. "Just answer it."

"Yeah, answer."

"Come on, answer the question Claire."

"Be honest with us."

"Talk to us!" As the boys started rallying behind one another, each of the girls shared scared looks. Claire looked ready to burst into tears and Molly started to feel bad about raising her voice. She tried to motion to Bender and Brian and Andy but they all ignored her. Allison started to look guilty herself. Eventually, Claire snapped.

"No! I never did it!" She shouted. Everyone went quiet. Molly was glaring at all the boys whilst Claire turned her head so no one could see her eyes fill with tears. She didn't want to admit that, not to them, total strangers who had judged her, bullied her...she hated them. She hated the situation and all she wanted was to go home and cry into her Dad's arms.

"I never did it either." Allison said quietly. Everyone stared at her and Claire's face was livid. "I'm not a nymphomaniac. I'm a compulsive liar." Brian stared at her in shock as Claire's cheeks flared a bright red.

"You are such a bitch!" She spat, her words laced with venom. "You did that on purpose just to fuck me over!"

"I would do it though." Allison said to the group, ignoring Claire's harsh words. "If you love someone it's okay." Her eyes met with Andrew's as she said that, whereas Molly didn't know whether to lock eyes with Brian or John. Either way, they both stared at her. _If you love someone it's okay._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight - Heart and Soul

"I can't believe it, you're so weird." Claire scoffed after a moment's pause, bringing everyone around her back to their senses. Molly tried to subtly move away from Bender's knee and scooted over to a more comfortable position against the bannister. Or at least she was telling herself it was more comfortable than Bender's knee. In reality, she felt colder, as if the heat radiating off of him had warmed her through to the very core. She shivered, whilst Allison across from her looked slightly guilty at the altercation she had caused. "You don't say anything all day," Claire continued, rolling her eyes for dramatic effect, "and then when you open your mouth, you unload all these tremendous lies all over me!" Molly groaned to herself and let her head loll back against the wooden beam. Claire was being petty again, and she wished she could go back to the sweet, innocent way she was a while ago, chatting to Molly and actually making this detention a little bearable. But because it was Claire, and this Claire wasn't getting her own way, she was deciding to be a brat.

"You're just pissed off because she got you to admit to something you didn't want to admit to." Andrew said in Allison's defence, puffing his chest out slightly, and she looked grateful for him butting in. Claire shrugged.

"Okay fine, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre."

"What's bizarre?" Andrew asked her. "I mean, we're all pretty bizarre." He looked at each of them individually. No one said anything. "Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all." Molly looked at her shoes.

"Well how are you bizarre?" Claire asked with a pointed look at Andy, clearly not believing what he was saying. Andy gulped.

"He can't think for himself." Allison said after a pause. Andy just nodded.

"She's right." He said quietly. "Do you guys know what, uh, what I did to get in here?" He asked, once again looking around the group. When no one responded, he nodded again. "I taped Larry Lester's buns together." Claire let out a giggle whilst Allison looked confused, as if she couldn't believe Andrew would do such a thing, whilst Brian stared at him in complete disbelief. Molly was shocked, her eyes bulging. She had heard about that during the week at lunch; one of Larry's friends had spilled it to her when she hadn't seen him in her Music class that morning.

"That was you?" Brian asked, his tone a lot more serious than before, almost demanding. Andy nodded.

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Yeah. I know him." Brian said stiffly.

"Well, then you know how hairy he is, right?" At that, Bender smiled in amusement, and Molly didn't dare glance his way. "Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and s-some skin too." Claire's face went pale and she looked away.

"Oh my god." Molly whispered. Andrew looked ashamed, his head tilted down away from everyone, before eventually sitting upright.

"And the bizarre thing is, was that I did it for my old man." He explained. "I tortured this poor kid, because I wanted him to think that I was cool. He's always going off about how, you know, when he was in school, about all the wild things he used to do. And I...I get the feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right?" At that moment, he had everyone captivated. No one moved, no one spoke, they even tried not to breath too loud. They just sat and listened. "So, I'm sitting in the locker room, and I'm taping up my knee, and Larry's undressing a couple locker's down from me. And...he's kinda, he's kinda skinny. Weak. And I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about, about weakness. And the next thing I knew, I'd, I'd jumped on top of him a-and started wailing on him. And my friends they, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards, when I was sitting in...in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father...and Larry having to go home and...and explain what had happened to him." Andrew's voice wavered and tears threatened to spill. Molly could tell he was trying not to cry, and she was the same. She had brought her knees to her chest, holding them against her for comfort as she tried not to shed any tears herself. Claire was looking away, Bender down at his lap, whilst Brian and Allison kept their heads down, trying to block everything out.

"Andrew…" Molly tried to say but her voice cracked. He looked at her and shook his head, and she stopped, knowing that he needed to get this out of his system before he exploded with guilt.

"The humiliation." He went on. "The fucking humiliation he must have felt." He had started to cry, and nearly everyone in the room, bar Bender who was still turned away from the circle, was crying too. "It must have been unreal. I mean how...how do you apologise for something like that? There's no way." He shook his head sadly. "It's all because of me and my old man. God, I fucking hate him." His fists started to clench. "He's like this...this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore." Molly braved a look at Bender and noticed he was looking down into his lap and she had never seen him look so lost in thought. She assumed he was thinking about his father too, especially since he had briefly shown them what he had to endure from him every day. She couldn't even imagine… "Andrew! You've got to be number one!" Andy's voice grew louder as he started shouting, tears spilling down his cheeks. Brian didn't even flinch beside him, just kept his face in his hands, too afraid to look up at them all. "I won't tolerate any losers in this family! Your intensity is for shit! Win, win, WIN!" Benders mouth was open, and his eyes had started to glaze over. All he could see was his father screaming at him too, but it wasn't about winning a game. Or being number one. Or even remotely related to anything Andrew was going through. Instead he saw his father leaning over him, his eye sore and his forehead throbbing, whilst glaring at him and snarling.

"Pathetic little piece of shit. What did I do to get you, huh? Did I fuck up that bad?"

"You son of a bitch." Andrew muttered to himself, shaking his head and clasping his shaking hands together. "You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give. Then I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And then he could forget all about me." The silence lasted for merely a few seconds before Bender looked at Andrew in the eyes.

"I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling." He joked. Andy managed a small smile. Everyone else was still quiet, not knowing what to say. That's when Brian lifted his hand away from his face.

"It's like me, you know, with my grades." Andy looked at him, confused. "Like when I, when I step outside myself kinda, and I look in at myself, you know...and I see me. I don't like what I see. I really don't."

"What's wrong with you?" Claire asked innocently, not even feigning it this time. "What don't you like yourself?"

"It sounds stupid, but...because I'm failing shop." Bender's head turned to look at him, something catching his interest. Molly then sat up on her knees, no longer wanting to be curled up in a ball in the corner. She wanted to know what Brian was talking about...maybe even help him. "We had this assignment." He said. "You know to make this, like, ceramic elephant. And, and we had eight weeks to do it, and you know we're supposed to, it was like a lamp, and you know, when you pull the trunk, the light was supposed to go on." He gulped. "My light didn't go on. I got an F on it. I've never gotten an F in my life." Bender rolled his eyes, clearly no longer seeing the point in the conversation. He didn't understand why so many students gave a rat's ass about their grades. So what, he failed, everyone fails once in awhile. It was no news to him, at least. "When I signed up, you know," Brian continued, "for the course I mean. I thought I was playing it real smart you know? Cos I thought, you know I'll take shop, it's such an easy way to maintain my grade point average."

"Why did you think it would be easy?" Bender asked suddenly. Brian sat up.

"Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?" He asked.

"I take shop." Molly and Claire cringed. "You must be a fucking idiot." He said rudely.

"I'm a fucking idiot because I can't make a lamp?" Brian asked, his tone more agitated.

"No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp." Bender replied sarcastically.

"What do you know about trigonometry?" Brian demanded.

"I could care less about trigonometry." Bender said.

"Bender, did you know that without trigonometry there would be no enginerring?"

"Without lamps, there'd be no light." Bender spat.

"Come on guys." Molly huffed. "Now's not the time for this."

"For what?" Bender spat. Molly looked away, wishing she hadn't spoken up, just as Allison sat forward.

"I can write with my toes." She said, trying to steer the conversation away from anymore arguments. Everyone stared at her. "I can also eat, brush my teeth-"

"With your feet?" Claire sounded completely disgusted.

"-play heart and soul on the piano." Andy smiled at her.

"I can make spaghetti." Brian jumped in. Allison nodded gratefully at him for going along with her. Claire smirked at Andrew.

"What can you do?" She asked. He thought for a moment before grinning.

"I can uh...tape all of your buns together." Molly chuckled at this, which made Andrew look over to her. "What about you? Got any cool talents we don't know about?" Bender side eyed her.

"Um, guitar, obviously."

"And piano." Brian said quickly, which made Bender frown at him from across the room. Brian gulped. "I've seen her play. She's good. Really good." Molly smiled at him before looking at Bender, trying to encourage him to join in. He clenched his jaw before staring directly at Claire.

"I wanna see what Claire can do."

"I can't do anything." She said quietly.

Bender raised his thick eyebrow and gave her a pointed look. "Now, everyone can do something." He said. Claire thought for a while, before smiling slightly.

"There's one thing I can do." She said, but then bit her lip and shook her head. "No way, it's too embarrassing."

"Come on, I bet it's not." Molly encouraged, giving her a small smile, which seemed to make Claire feel a little better.

"Okay. But you have to swear to God you won't laugh." The statement was directed at Bender, who just groaned and cross his heart for her. Claire sighed, before reaching into the pocket of her long, brown skirt, and pulling out a lipstick. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." She popped off the cap and then, surprisingly, placed the lipstick in between her chest, pushing her elbows together and tilting her head down. Everyone watched in pure fascination as Claire gently moved her head back and forth, before lifting her face up to reveal the lipstick perfectly applied across her plump lips, turning them into a deep, plum compared to her natural cherry red colouring. The group applauded her, even Molly was clapping in amazement.

"Alright!" Andrew grinned. "That's great! Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Camp. Seventh grade." Claire smiled appreciatively at him, before turning to Bender who was still clapping obnoxiously loud. EVeryone soon stared at him when they realised he wasn't stopping, and they frowned. Bender just smirked before finally moving his hands away and tilting his head back in a cocky manner.

"That was great Claire." He teased. "My image of you is totally blown." Molly's head whipped towards him, and everyone in the room held their breath. Claire looked away, too embarrassed to meet John's gaze, just as Allison turned to him with fire in her eyes.

"You shit!" She spat. "Don't do that to her, you swore to God you wouldn't laugh!"

"Am I laughing?" Bender asked. Molly was seething, but she looked up at Claire instead of John only to see her with tears in her eyes and hastily wiping away the pretty lipstick.

"You fucking prick!" Andy exclaimed, catching Bender's attention instantly.

"What do you care what I think, anyway?" Bender asked, much more calmly than everyone expected. "I don't even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference. I may as well not even exist at this school! Remember?"

Molly and Andy exchanged looks, and she shrugged. He was the one that said all of that in the first place. Andy just started fiddling with a loose thread on his jeans.

"And you?" Bender spoke up again, this time talking directly to Claire. "You don't like me anyway."

"That's enough." Molly said sternly, trying to calm everyone down, but Claire was already arguing back.

"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do and it hurts just as much when somebody steps all over them." She said with a shaking voice.

"God, you're so pathetic! Don't you EVER, compare yourself to me, okay?" Bender snapped as a warning.

"John, I said that's enough!" Molly said much louder this time, but she barely got a reaction out of him.

"You got everything, and I got shit!" He carried on. "Fucking Rapunzel, right? School would probably fucking shut down if you didn't show up! Queenie isn't here!" Bender paused, and the others all looked at Claire's red, puffy face as she tried her hardest not to start sobbing. Molly was clenching her fists, not wanting to do something she'd regret, as Bender just carried on berating Claire. "I like those earrings, Claire."

"Shut up." She sniffed.

"Are those REAL diamonds?"

"I said, shut up!"

"I bet they are. Did you work for the money, for those earrings?"

"Shut...your mouth…"

"Or did your Daddy buy them for you?" Bender smirked.

"SHUT UP!" Claire screamed, making Molly jump in fright. But Bender just wouldn't quit, he kept on and on at her, making her cry harder and caused her whole body to start shaking.

"I bet he did!" He grinned. "I bet those were a christmas gift! Right? You know what I got for christmas this year? It was a banner fucking year for the old Bender family! I got a carton of cigarettes! The old man grabbed me and said, hey, smoke up Johnny!" At this point, everyone in the room had tears in their eyes except for John; even Molly was starting to well up at the words he was throwing their way. Could someone really treat their child that way? How? Bender took one last look at Claire's blubbering face before he rolled his eyes. "Okay, so go home and cry to your Daddy, don't cry here, okay?"

Silence. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They barely even breathed. It was like they couldn't. Molly's lip was quivering, and all she could think about was her mother. Her rich, proud, conservative mother, who hated the idea of music and hated that Molly was so comfortable with who she was as a human being. As a woman. Her father had loved music, but her mother had kicked him out for it, saying if he never got a real job that would help pay the bills he would be out of the house. Molly bit her lip and wiped under her eyes, not wanting to rub away any eyeliner.

"My god." Andy spoke up, breaking the silence. "Are we gonna be like our parents?"

"Not me." Molly whispered. She felt Bender's eyes on her, and she met them without hesitation. "Ever." He then gave her a strange smile and a curt nod, as if he approved. Molly just ducked her head away.

"It's unavoidable." Allison said. "It just happens."

"What happens?" Claire asked timidly.

"When you grow up, your heart dies."

Bender scoffed. "Who cares?"

"I care." Allison said, choking up a little.

"I was just thinking, I mean…" Brian started to say, looking over at Molly. "I don't know, it's kind of a weird time but I...I was just wondering, um...what is gonna happen to us on Monday? When we're all together again." Andy and Molly shared a look, as did Allison and Claire. Bender still refused to look at any of them. "I mean, I consider you guys my friends. I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No." Andy said without hesitation, and for a brief moment Molly smiled at him. Then she turned to Brian.

"I hadn't really thought about what happens Monday." She said honestly, and he looked down at his hands. "But...maybe over thinking it will ruin it."

"But what am I supposed to think?" Brian asked. "That we're all still-"

"All still friends, you mean?" Claire butted in, and Brian shut his mouth before nodding his head. "If we are friends now, that is."

"Yeah." Brian said.

"You want the truth?" Brian nodded at her.

"Yeah, I want the truth."

"I don't think so." She said softly. Brian looked away, and Molly sighed as she saw a tear escape the corner of his eye.

"With all of us or just John?" Allison asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"All of you." Claire said, looking away. Molly shook her head.

"After today, we can't just go on with our lives, expecting everything to be the same." She said, staring at each of them in turn. "We just can't!"

"So you actually want to walk down the halls with me and my friends?" Claire bit back, turning on her. "People you hate?"

"That's a real nice attitude, Claire." Andrew said harshly.

"Oh be honest, Andy! If Brian came walking up to you in the hall on Monday, what would you do?" Andy paused, then glanced at Brian. He was still turned away, not wanting anyone to see how upset he was. But Molly could tell, and all she wanted to do was reach out and hold his hand. "Picture this. You're there with all the sports, you know exactly what you'd do. You'd say hi to him, and when he left you'd cut him all up so your friends wouldn't think you really liked him."

"No way." Andy said.

"And what if I came up to you?" Allison asked Claire, who just shook her head sadly.

"The same exact thing."

"Why are you such a bitch?!" Molly spat, glaring daggers at her from where she sat with Bender. Everyone jumped, not expecting her to raise her voice, and turned to her. Claire's eyes widened, feeling threatened, but she bit back her pride and sat up a little straighter against the wall.

"Why?" She demanded. "Because I'm telling the truth, that makes me a bitch?"

"No, because even the thought of doing something like that is shitty, how can you think like that?" Molly asked in disgust. "You'd throw all of this away because your ego can't take it?"

"Well what about you, you hypocrite!" Claire spat. "If you think that, then why don't you hang out with Andy after practise? Smoke with Brian in the parking lot after school? What about Allison, what about me?" Claire then quickly snuck a glance at Bender before continuing. "Why don't you invite John to one of your concerts, huh? Walk with him through the park afterwards? Like friends?! You see that happening?"

"What makes you think I wouldn't do all of those things?" Molly challenged her. "What makes that so ridiculous?"

"Imagine your bandmates seeing you with Brian or Allison." The two in question instantly looked taken aback and hurt, but Claire just kept going. "They'd laugh their asses off, thinking you were pitying them."

"Don't you dare talk about my band!" Molly shouted, leaning forward and backing Claire against the wall. "If you even think for a second that you know my friends, then think again! They aren't like you, all stuck up and prudish, they have real lives, real jobs! We work for our goddamn money, unlike you, Daddy's princess!"

"Shut up!" Claire screamed in frustration, folding her arms and starting to sulk again.

"'I'm sick of your shit! I'm sick of sticking up for you!" Molly yelled. "You're not better than me, you're not better than any of us! You're exactly the same, if not worse...so let that sink in before you start talking crap!"

"I hate you!" Claire sobbed and Molly scoffed at her, folding her arms and sitting back against the wall.

"Like I give a shit." She spat. Silence.

"So I assume Allison and I are better than you?" Brian asked, and Claire could barely raise her head to look at him. "Us weirdos? Would you do that to me?" He asked her, and Allison smiled at him sadly.

"I don't have any friends." She replied.

"Well, if you did."

"No. I don't think the kind of friends I'd have would mind." Molly wiped at her eyes before sitting up.

"You do have friends." She said softly, and the two girls shared a soft smile.

"I just want to tell each of you that I wouldn't do that." Brian said firmly. "I wouldn't, and I will not. Because I think that's real shitty."

"Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us." Claire said, looking at Andy. Molly swore under her breath and shook her head.

"You're so conceited Claire." Brian said through a sudden sob, taking everyone off guard. "You're so conceited! You're like, full of yourself...why are you like that?"

"I'm not saying that to be conceited!" She cried. "I hate it! I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!"

"Then why do you do it?" Brian asked.

"I don't know I...you don't understand you don't, you're not friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with. You know, you just don't understand the pressure they can put on you."

"Seriously?" Molly looked her up and down. "That's your biggest problem in life? What your friends think?"

"Stop trying to undermine me!" Claire protested.

"You think I don't understand pressure?" Brian asked, and both girls turned to him. "Fuck you!" He shouted, shoving his face into his arm and sobbing. Molly's mouth dropped open and she quickly got to her knees before crawling over to him. She gently rested her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it.

"Brian, it's okay-" She tried to say but he pushed her away, his crying not ceasing.

"Do you know why I'm here today? Do you?!" His voice cracked as he spoke, showing how upset he was, and Molly bit her lip. "I'm here, because...Mr Ryan...found a gun in my locker." Everyone froze.

"Why did you have a gun in your locker?" Andy asked, nervously.

"I tried!" Brian protested, moving his arm away from his face and sniffing. Molly reached out and put her hand over his, rubbing a thumb over the soft skin of his knuckles. He looked up at her and blinked, wondering why she was showing him such compassion. He was nothing to her, to any of them. Just some geeky virgin trying to survive each day of torture at this place. "When you pull the...the trunk, the light's supposed to go on."

"What are you talking about?" Molly asked gently.

"Forget it." He said, sitting up against the bannister and moving his hand from hers.

"What's the gun for Brian?" Andy asked again.

"I said just forget it."

"You brought it up, man." Brian squeezed his eyes shut, and clasped his hands together. They were shaking like leaves, and Molly resisted the urge to hold them again to make them stop.

"I can't get an F." He said firmly. "I can't have it. I know my parents can't have it." Molly looked at each of the teenagers in turn. They all had tears in their eyes, except for Bender of course. However, he still looked shaken up, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Neither could Molly.

"Even if I ace the rest of the semester," Brian continued, "I'm still only a B. Everything's ruined for me."

"It's not." Molly tried to convince him. "You aren't your grades."

"Tell that to my Mom." Brian scoffed, before he angrily pushed one of the stools next to him back, making Molly jump. He looked at her and shook his head. "I considered my options, you know?"

"That is never an option." Molly said.

"She's right." Claire nodded. "That won't solve anything."

"Well I didn't do it, did I!" He said loudly, glaring at the two of them. When neither of them replied, he looked away. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

"It was a handgun?" Allison asked, and Molly stared at her.

"It was a flare gun." Brian said quietly, resting his arms on his knees. Molly frowned.

"Wait. A flare gun?" She asked, and looked at Bender as he leaned forward. "You tried to kill yourself with a flare gun?"

"It went off in my locker." He explained. Andy then snorted.

"Really?" He laughed, causing Molly to reach over and slap his shoulder, although a small smirk was creeping its way onto her lips.

"It's not funny." Brian said in a monotone voice, and Andrew cleared his throat to try and stop himself from laughing. But then he met Molly's eyes, and the two started giggling under their breath. Allison and Bender, even Claire, started smiling, and soon all of them were softly laughing to themselves. Eventually, Brian smiled and shook his head in defeat. "Okay, it is. Fucking elephant was destroyed." That only set off Andy and Molly even more.

"You wanna know what I did to get in here?" Allison asked, and everyone looked at her. "Nothing." She grinned. "I didn't have anything better to do." Molly was the first to start laughing, then Andy, then Bender, Claire and Brian. Allison started giggling as she saw all of their faces finally lighting up after their heart to heart. "You're laughing at me."

"No! Not at all!" Andy lied, only making the rest of them laugh even harder. Molly eventually found the strength to stand up and she giggled when she toppled slightly on her shaky legs, thankfully having Brian next to her to steady her. She grinned down at him and offered him a hand.

"Come on." She said. "Let's cheer everyone up." He raised an eyebrow but took her hand got to his feet, letting her drag him to the small office in the library where the librarian kept her record player. The others all scattered around the library, doing their own thing, as Molly and Brian ran into the office and riffled through the vinyls.

"God, this old bat is evil but she has good taste in music." Molly commented, pulling out a Prince 'Purple Rain' album and examining it. Suddenly, the sound of the record player starting up made her jump, and she watched as Brian started playing 'We Are Not Alone' by Karla DeVito. She grinned and started bobbing her head, putting the Prince record down and walking out the office, looking down at the others on the ground floor. Molly then started moving her hips and her feet, letting her body feel the beat of the music as Brian kept turning it louder and louder, enjoying seeing her like this; at ease.

"Come on Johnson!" Molly called out, grabbing his hand and making him twirl her around. "Let's dance!" He laughed, but allowed her to pull him down the staircase and out onto the main floor of the library where the others were, all of them letting their energy run wild. Bender had clambered up onto the ridiculous statue in the middle of the room and was headbanging to the song, whilst Allison was twirling around with her arms in the air. Andy was playing air guitar whilst sitting on top of the bannister, leaving Claire to be the only one who was actually dancing. She was good, Molly realised, as she spun and swayed her hips in time to the song. Molly then pulled Brian forward, then pushed him back so they were arms length apart, before coming in close and spinning each other around. "You're actually pretty good!" Molly praised him, and Brian shrugged.

"My sister likes dancing, so I learned for her." Molly couldn't help but beam at him.

"There's nothing you can't do, is there?" She smiled, dancing close to him and letting him twirl her around so her back was against his chest. Brian instantly realised what he did, and coughed awkwardly, before letting her move away from him.

"Don't be so sure." He said nervously and Molly smiled. Brian then noticed her face twist into confusion, and then shock, before she pointed at something above his head.

"Shit, it's nearly three!" Brian spun around to see she was pointing at the clock, only to realise that it was nearly quarter to three. He swore under his breath before running back up the stairs to turn the music off. The others caught on quickly and got back down to the tables and chairs, before they all perched on the bannister, sitting side by side and staring off towards the other side of the room. John was sat on Molly's right whilst Brian was on her left, and she looked between each of the boys, who were both off in their own worlds, before she cleared her throat. "What's everyone doing for the rest of the day?" She asked.

Claire laughed. "I didn't think that far ahead." She replied.

"Maybe ignore my old man like usual." Andy said with a smirk, which caught Bender's attention.

"You and me both, Sport." And the two nodded at each other in mutual understanding.

"Allison?" Molly asked, not wanting to make her feel left out. The girl shrugged awkwardly.

"Play heart and soul on the piano." She smirked and Claire grimaced.

"Please don't play with your feet." She begged.

"What about you?" Brian asked quietly as the others started chatting amongst themselves. Molly shrugged, fiddling with a loose thread on her leather skirt.

"Finish off one of my songs, I guess. I can't do much, I have work tomorrow morning."

"Where do you work?"

"JJ's." She said with a roll of her eyes. "Cliche, I know. A waitress on minimum wage. But it's something for now."

"You work at JJ's?" Andy said, leaning forward and grinning from ear to ear. "I go there all the time after practise, how come I've never seen you?"

"You weren't paying enough attention." Molly teased and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Well next time I'll make sure to say hi." He said, and there was something in his eyes that showed Molly he was being sincere. And she smiled.

"Isn't that the place with the milkshakes the size of your head?" Bender asked.

"Sure is. Best in town." Molly boasted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "You should try it some time."

"I ain't a milkshake kinda guy." Bender scoffed.

"It's on me." Molly said, and he raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything. He then glanced at the clock, and sighed.

"Well kids, I'm out. Enjoy your freedom from me while it lasts." John said, hopping down from the bannister and heading back over to the staircase he had walked down after falling through the ceiling.

"Try not to bust your ass again!" Andy called, and John flipped him the bird before clambering up onto the bannister of the stairs and pulling himself up into the ceiling, disappearing completely only seconds later. Everything went quiet for a short while, the others not knowing what to do next.

"Brian?" Claire asked. "Are you gonna write your paper?"

"Yeah," he replied, "why?"

"Well, it's kind of a waste for all of us to write a paper, don't you think?"

"Well, that's what Vernon wants us to do." Brian said, unsure of where Claire was going with this. Molly tutted at her.

"You're gonna get him to write one for each of us, seriously?"

"Well, besides you he's the best writer and let's face it, we'll all write the same thing." Claire said and Molly smiled at her whilst shaking her head.

"It's your call, Bri." Molly said, shrugging her shoulders and hopping down from the bannister. She grabbed her jacket and threw it over her shoulder before picking up her notebook, tucking it under her arm, and putting her sunglasses back on.

"Where are you going?" Brian asked with a frown. "We aren't supposed to leave until Vernon says so."

"I have to make a pit stop first." Molly said, grabbing her guitar from where she had left it on the table. She glanced at the hole in the ceiling, and smirked. Brian hopped off the bannister when he noticed this and walked over to her whilst the other three ignored them.

"You know, if Vernon catches you with him, he'll just give you another detention." Brian whispered and Molly sighed, hitching her glasses so they were on top of her head.

"Who cares what Vernon says or does anymore." Molly said. "We're all just trying to have fun, right?"

"I suppose...but-"

"Hey, chin up." Molly smiled, using her pointer fingers to poke Brian's cheeks where his dimples were. He instantly blushed. "I'll see you Monday."

"You will?" He frowned and Molly nodded.

"I wouldn't do that. What Claire said? It's shitty, and you don't deserve that." Her words touched him, and he couldn't help but smile at her for them.

"Thank you." Molly grinned, then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"Catch you later." She winked, then pushed her glasses back down her face then sauntered out of the library, quickly checking both ends of the corridor before hurrying down towards the closet Bender had been put in. She tried her best to figure out where he had been crawling and she kept glancing at the ceiling to see any pushed in tiles from where he had been kneeling on them. Eventually, she managed to find a path and followed it down an empty corridor until it stopped at a dead end, only one door left. She smirked and walked towards it, leaving her guitar, book and jacket on the ground before putting her hand on the door knob and twisting.

She poked her head round, taking in the room for a split second. It was tiny, with stacks of tables and chairs and papers everywhere. Then she spotted both of Bender's jackets, and her eyes travelled up to meet his shocked ones. She then stepped inside, pressed her back against the door, and clicked it shut, leaning against it and smiling.

"You lost?" He asked, a few seconds ticking by.

"Maybe." She said. More seconds ticked by. "You cosy in here?"

"Well, I probably couldn't sleep in here, but I'm sure if the rent is cheap enough I could consider it." Molly giggled at him, and he smirked.

"Always making jokes."

"It's a talent."

"Clearly." She slowly bit her lip and John's eyes travelled to her lips automatically. He stood up, and cautiously made his over to her, worried she'd turn around and run straight back out the door, too scared to go through with whatever was about to happen. But he knew she wouldn't. Molly Foster wasn't scared of anything, especially not him.

"I liked it when you played the guitar." He said once he was standing toe to toe with her. The two of them only just then realised how much he towered over her, and Molly had to lean her head back against the door to look into his eyes.

"Didn't think that was your kind of music?" She said, putting her hands behind her back and scuffing her boot against the carpet. Bender chuckled, and leaned one of his hands next to her head. A classic move, not that Molly was complaining.

"It's not too terrible coming from you."

"You know, I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me so far today."

"Don't get used to it." He cocked his head to the side, and looked down at her lips.

"I won't." She whispered, then pushed herself up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against the base of his neck, completely catching him off guard. When she pulled away, Bender stared down at her with a small frown.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked quietly.

"Because I knew you wouldn't." Molly said honestly. He grinned.

"Remember when you said you write music when your Mom acts up?" Bender said. Molly nodded without hesitation. "How many songs do you think you'd have to write after she meets me?"

"You want to meet my Mother?" Molly scoffed. Bender shrugged.

"You said she doesn't like it when you do dumb shit. I think she'd have a heart attack when she meets me." Molly laughed and looked down, but then felt Bender tilt her chin up with his fingers. Molly hesitated, before cleared her throat.

"We should probably go." She said quietly. John didn't even blink.

"Or we could stay here?" He suggested, using his hand that was holding her chin to move down her neck, down her arm, and onto her waist, pulling her into him. "Better than facing whatever's out there."

"Maybe."

"You say maybe a lot."

"Shut up." Molly said, and once again pushed herself up until she was inches from his lips, before they both felt the door push open. John stumbled back, taking Molly with him, and the two looked up to see Vernon glaring at them from the doorway.

"Jesus, why am I not even surprised?" He grunted, then pushed the door wide enough for them both to see the hallway. "Go on, get out!" They both scrambled to leave, John grabbing his coat and denim jacket whilst Molly grabbed her stuff from outside, before the two of them took off down the corridor, Molly grabbing Bender's hand and dragging him with her as they ran away from Vernon, who just watched on with a disappointed look. "Goddamn teenagers." He muttered to himself, before wandering back to the library.

As they ran down the corridor, they caught a glimpse of the others in the distance, and Molly called out their names, making them all turn around. However, she nearly screamed when she saw Allison.

"Oh my god!" She grinned, running up to her and staring at her her, seeing the outfit she had been wearing underneath her black cardigan, finally seeing her eyes for the first time without any eyeliner. She was a completely different person now, and Molly honestly loved it. "What happened to you? I was barely gone fifteen minutes!"

"I can take credit for that." Claire beamed, looking rather proud of herself. Molly smiled at the both of them.

"You look incredible. Doesn't she Andy?" Molly raised an eyebrow at the wrestler, who had been staring at Allison the entire time. He went slightly pink and nodded.

"Yeah. Look's good." He mumbled, making the girls laugh. The teenagers then all walked towards the exit together, the same double doors they had all walked in through separately, and now they were leaving as a group. Eight hours can change everything.

Carl was stood near the doors with his janitorial supplies, and leaned against his mop and bucket with a smile as the group walked past him, all smiling back.

"See you next Saturday." Bender nodded, Molly giggling at the realisation that she too would be back there as well. Carl waved them off as the group finally walked out of the front doors once again, back into the fresh, afternoon air. Molly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, missing the feeling of the wind on her skin already. She saw Brian walking towards his car, and she walked up to him.

At first he paused, and quickly looked between his mother and sister sat in the car, both of whom were glaring at him to get inside. But Brian looked back at Molly, and bravely stepped towards her.

"I...I guess I'll see you Monday, then?" Brian said, completely uncertain. Molly nodded and gave him a gentle smile, before stepping into the road to stand toe to toe with him, and leaned up to press a kiss to his red cheek. Brian was stuck, and couldn't seem to move at all, but he felt himself smiling back as Molly backed up.

"See you Monday." She waved, then walked towards the field where her own Mother's car was parked. Brian blushed, then noticed Bender's glare burning into the side of his head. He awkwardly nodded, then hopped into the car as quick as he could. He reckoned he could face up to his Mother's fury rather than Bender's right now.

"How was it?" Molly's mother asked as she got close to the car. She was sat inside still, having only rolled the window down to talk to her daughter. Molly shrugged.

"Fine."

"That's all you brought back from that? That it was fine?" Her mother scolded, and Molly stood up straight, not wanting to look at her anymore. "Are you even listening to me Molly Anne?"

"Just, give me a sec, Mom." She said dismissively, watching as Bender strode towards her, hands shoved in his coat pockets, and a smug look on his face. Molly leaned against the back car door, and folded her arms, watching his every movement. He was so call and collected all the time, she wondered how he could snap into a rage at any given second. Bender stood tall over her, covering her with his shadow, as if he were shielding her. And she didn't mind that.

"Mondays gonna be interesting, huh?" Molly said.

"Only if it you make it interesting." Bender smirked. She scoffed and shoved his shoulder, before reaching into the pocket of her leather jacket. "Whatcha looking for Mary Poppins?" He teased.

"This." She pulled out a lime green guitar pick, and at first Bender laughed.

"I don't play."

"You don't have to." Molly reached out and took ahold of Bender's arm, bringing his hand from his pocket into her own. She then pressed the pick into his palm and carefully closed his fist, cupping it with her delicate fingers. Bender was silent during this entire ordeal. "It's a lucky pick. My Dad told me so, and I want you to have it."

"Luck ain't never been on my side." Bender said quietly.

"It will now." Molly looked into his eyes, and he looked right back into hers. They could see each other start to lean forward, but Molly was the one brave enough to press their lips together. It was like no other kiss. It was slow, but passionate, it was firm but gentle, it was something she hadn't felt before. And she really didn't want it to end. However, when she heard the not so subtle threat clearing of her mother, Molly reluctantly pulled away. Bender's eyes were still closed, but his body seemed to dip forward towards hers, wanting to kiss her again, and he sighed as his hair tickled her cheek and he felt her breath on his skin.

"Later, Gator." Molly whispered, letting go of his hands and clambering into the car. Bender watched in a daze as Molly Foster's mother drove down the road at top speed, wanting to get away from his as soon as possible. He then licked his lips and put the pick into the left breast pocket of his checked shirt, right over his heart funnily enough.

Bender then turned, and headed over the football field towards the dingy street where he grew up. As he passed the furthest goal from the school, he punched his fist into the air in victory. Because for once, he had won.


End file.
